Binance Dropped by Paysafe for Euro Deposits and Withdrawals

Olga Kharif and Emily Nicolle, Bloomberg News

The Binance website on a laptop arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York, US, on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. The list of digital tokens deemed as unregistered securities by the Securities and Exchange Commission now spans over $120 billion of crypto after the US agencys lawsuits against Binance Holdings Ltd. and Coinbase Global Inc. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Binance Holdings Ltd. will lose access to euro-denominated bank transfers to and from its cryptocurrency exchange via banking partner Paysafe Ltd., the latest in a recent string of blows to its business in Europe.

Paysafe will no longer support bank transfers of euros to and from Binance via the Single Euro Payments Area network from Sept. 25, according to a spokesperson for the world’s largest crypto exchange.

“Following a strategic review, we have taken the decision to cease offering our embedded wallet solution to Binance across the region,” London-based Paysafe said in an emailed statement. “Paysafe and Binance are now working to mutually implement an orderly and fair process to terminate this service over the next few months.”

Binance was already under pressure in Europe, where Belgian authorities this month ordered it to stop local operations and French prosecutors are investigating it for aggravated money laundering. Its share of euro-denominated crypto trading has tumbled to 13% this year, research firm Kaiko said June 20.

Underscoring the impact from losing access to payment networks, overall pound-denominated trading volume across exchanges has fallen since Paysafe in mid-March said it would stop providing support to Binance for withdrawals and deposits in the UK, data from Kaiko show. At the time, Paysafe said it would continue to support Binance in Europe and Latin America.

Paysafe’s decision to cut Binance off in the UK took full effect in May.

Binance “will be changing the provider,” the spokesperson said in a statement late Wednesday in New York, adding that “all methods of depositing and withdrawing other fiat currencies as well as buying and selling crypto on Binance.com remain unaffected.”

Binance faces a web of probes around the world and has been dropped by some payments providers wary of regulatory fallout. Its Australia platform was cut off from a key local currency withdrawal route at the start of June.

The US Securities & Exchange Commission earlier this month accused Binance and its founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao of mishandling customer funds, misleading investors and regulators, and breaking securities rules. Binance has called the SEC action “disappointing” and said that it intends to defend its platform “vigorously.” Zhao and Binance also face a lawsuit from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In the wake of the SEC’s action, Binance.US told users that payment and banking partners had signaled an intent to pause support for the exchange’s dollar channels. Its US market share has almost evaporated, Kaiko said earlier.

BNB, the native token of Binance, advanced 1.8% to $225 as of 9:22 a.m. in London on Thursday, part of a broader rise in digital assets. It’s slumped about 30% this quarter, buffeted by the SEC’s lawsuit.

(Updates with comment from Paysafe in third paragraph.)