Binance Fined $3.3M By Dutch Central Bank

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance has been fined 3.32 million euros ($3.35 million) by De Nederlandsche Bank NV (DNB), the central bank of the Netherlands, for offering crypto services in the country without required registration.

DNB Imposes $3.3M Fine on Binance

The bank claimed Binance offered crypto services to customers in the country from May 2020 to December 2021 without the required registration with the DNB.

On May 21, 2020, the bank obligated crypto service providers to register with them. The regulator noted it warned Binance in August 2021 against offering services without the required registration.

“Companies that want to offer crypto services in the Netherlands are obliged to register with DNB under the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft),” the bank said. 

The central bank noted that for violating its money laundering rules, Binance is liable to pay administrative fines from the third category. According to DNB, the administrative fine has a basic amount of 2 million euros ($2,031,120).

After applying its general fine setting policy, the central bank said it decided to increase the basic amount for the fine imposed on Binance to $3.35 million. DNB noted that this is because the exchange is the largest in the world and has a very large number of Dutch customers.

The fine was imposed on April 25, 2022. However, Binance objected to it on June 2, 2022.

The regulator also revealed that Binance has now submitted an application, seeking to be a registered entity in the country.

“DNB has moderated the fine by 5%, partly because a registration application has now been submitted and because Binance has been relatively transparent about its business operations throughout the process. This registration is currently being assessed by DNB,” the bank stated.

Having faced a number of regulatory woes similar to this in the past, Binance has in recent times doubled down on compliance. In May, the company received approval from Italian regulator Organismo Agenti E Mediatori (OAM) to operate as a virtual asset service provider in the country.