Binance has been ordered to shut down their services in Belgium. The action was taken after the FSMA sent a restriction order to the largest crypto exchange company in the world.
The FSMA, or the Financial Services and Markets Authority, is the financial regulatory agency in Belgium. It was established on 1 April 2011, and its mission is to ensure the honest and equitable treatment of financial consumers and the integrity of the financial markets.
The FSMA has a wide range of powers, including the power to grant and revoke licenses to financial institutions, supervise financial institutions to ensure compliance with the law, investigate and take action against financial institutions that break the law, issue warnings to consumers about financial products and services, and more. The FSMA has its headquarters in Brussels, and it has offices in all of Belgium’s provinces.
According to FSMA, “Binance is offering and providing exchange services in Belgium between virtual currencies and legal currencies, as well as custody wallet services, from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area.”
The organization insists that it is not permitted for any firm or persons offering services to nations that are not under the European Economic Area to also serve the Belgian market. “Failure to comply with this prohibition is subject to criminal sanctions,” FSMA said.
Furthermore, FSMA said that 19 out of the 27 operators on the Binance.com website that serve Belgian clients “appear to be based outside the European Economic Area.” Also, it alleged that Binance has not provided clarity on the functioning of these operators in line with the rules and regulations given by the Belgian authorities.
FSMA added that as Binance concludes its closure in Belgium, the crypto exchange should “return to the Belgian clients in question all cryptographic keys and/or all virtual currencies that Binance holds for their account,” or carefully transfer all required assets and documentation to any other entity that services the Belgian market under its prescribed laws.
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