The Spanish securities regulator, the CNMV, has ordered
Binance to stop offering cryptocurrency derivative products to customers
in the country. According to local media, the crypto exchange giant has
followed the orders of the regulator, withdrawing these products from
its customers in Spain.
Spanish Securities Regulator Sets Eyes on Binance
The CNMV, which is the Spanish securities regulator, is putting more
pressure on exchanges offering cryptocurrency-linked derivatives in the
country. Binance, one of the biggest exchanges in the world by volume
traded, has been required to drop the offer of cryptocurrency-related
derivatives, like futures contracts, for customers in the country, according to local media.
The purpose of the measure is ostensibly to protect investors using
such products as investment tools. The regulator warned last year about
the danger of derivatives, stating they increase the complexity of
trading operations, and also can cause investors to lose even more than
the initial investment capital.
Binance has reportedly withdrawn all of its derivatives offerings
from its investments page for Spanish users, preventing them from
opening new operations. However, the operations that were already open
are being maintained in the same state, as the exchange awaits more
feedback from the regulator.
Gray List
Binance is following the orders of the Spanish regulator as a way of
getting the needed permits to establish its operations in the country.
Currently, the exchange is in regulatory limbo, being mentioned in a
gray list that was published last year with several cryptocurrency
exchanges that also operate in Spain. However, Binance has been in talks
with the CNMV to get out of this current state and get approval from
the Bank of Spain.
The exchange has been in talks
to get licenses from the Bank of Spain and the securities regulator
since January, but there has not been a positive answer from either as
of writing. At the time, Alberto Ortiz, country manager of Binance in
Spain, declared:
By joining the Bank of Spain registry we hope to encourage other firms to do the same.
However, other exchanges have already been greenlighted by the Bank of Spain. Bit2me, a local exchange, was the first one to receive this license, and others have followed since.
