Exit useless! Canadian regulatory agency fines Binance $6 million CAD.

The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) has issued a press release imposing a $6 million Canadian dollar, approximately $4.47 million USD, administrative penalty on Binance Holdings Limited for operating as an unregistered foreign money services business (FMSB) and failing to report large virtual currency transactions exceeding $10,000.

FINTRAC fines Binance $6 million CAD

FINTRAC is part of Canada's financial intelligence unit. The regulatory body is designed to detect and prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, and other illicit activities within Canada's financial ecosystem. In a press release, it was mentioned that Binance was fined for the following two violations:

Binance Holdings Limited failed to register as a Foreign Money Services Business (FMSB)

Binance Holdings Limited had multiple opportunities to register with FINTRAC as an FMSB but failed to do so by the specified deadline. It is important to note that Binance Holdings Limited was considered an FMSB and required to register with FINTRAC until officially ceasing all operations in Canada on September 25, 2023. Prior to this, Binance was in violation of its registration requirements.

Failure to report virtual currency transactions over $10,000 USD

Through blockchain analysis, FINTRAC found that Binance failed to report instances where they received virtual currency amounts of over $10,000 USD in a single transaction, including a total of 5,902 transactions that required reporting.

Binance exited the Canadian market last year

At the beginning of 2023, the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) gave cryptocurrency exchanges a deadline of the end of March to register and meet requirements. Several major cryptocurrency companies, including Binance, Bybit, OKX, Deribit, Paxos, and dydx, left the Canadian market within a year.

In May, Binance stated that despite continuously seeking alternative ways to protect Canadian users, no feasible solution was found, leading to its temporary exit.

However, despite choosing to exit, Binance was still fined by Canadian regulators for non-compliant behavior prior to its official departure.

Canada's strict crypto regulations lead Binance to exit the Canadian market