Binance Halts Its Cryptocurrency Derivatives Offering In Spain to Comply With Regulatory Requirements

With Binance moving to get regulatory approval from Spanish authorities, the exchange has discontinued crypto derivative offerings in Spain in a bid to get a regulatory green light from the country’s financial watchdog.

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trade volume, has been forced by Spanish financial regulators to discontinue the offering of cryptocurrency derivatives products to Spanish residents.

Spanish local media outlet La Informac!on reported today that the exchange moved to remove the cryptocurrency offering from its platform after a restriction was placed on the service by the country’s financial watchdog.

Binance Quest to Get Approved in Spain

According to the report, Binance has been seeking regulatory approval from the The National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) since the beginning of the year and halting the crypto derivative offering is part of efforts by the exchange to comply with the CNMV requirement.

Notably, Binance is yet to be approved by the National Securities Market Commission because the exchange has not yet secured an operational certificate from the Bank of Spain, forcing the crypto trading platform to continue to remain in the CNMV’s gray list.

It is worth noting that getting approved by the National Securities Market Commission is a necessity for companies who are seeking to offer crypto-related services in Spain.

Despite all efforts to get an approval from the CNMV, the agency headed by Pablo Hernández de Cos,  has rejected all moves to grant the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange the necessary license.

With Binance discontinuing its crypto derivative offering and its willingness to comply with the relevant authorities, it will help pave the way for the exchange to receive approval from the CNMV soon.

Alberto Ortiz, head of Binance’s operations in Spain, said:

“With our adherence to the Bank of Spain registry, we hope to encourage other firms to do the same.”

The CNMV has always frowned at crypto derivative offering, which it believes increases the chances of investors incurring more losses than their initial investments.

Based on this, the authorities want the service to be limited to investors with extensive knowledge of the offering.

Binance Regulatory Woes

Meanwhile, the development comes a few days after Binance was approved by French regulators to operate in the country.

Toward the end of last year, Binance received several warnings from authorities in various countries that declared the exchange’s operations as illegal.

Italy, Singapore, Canada, Thailand, Iran, etc., were among the nations that placed restrictions on Binance’s activities within their countries.