Binance Suspends Visa Card Services in Europe

Binance is no longer offering its Visa debit card services within the European Economic Area (EEA). Binance Visa debit card holders will still be able to use their current physical or virtual card until December 20. After that date, the company recommends consumers use Binance Pay, its crypto payment solution, to make purchases at participating merchants. TradingView noted that this decision comes after a series of problems that Binance has been embroiled in. According to its reporting: “One such incident was the cessation of euro transactions following Paysafe’s withdrawal from processing EUR deposits for its users. However, Binance reinstated euro payments, deposits, and withdrawals to EU customers yesterday.”

Binance Continues to Be Mired with Problems

Overall, things have not looked too promising for one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. In June, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a case in federal court accusing the exchange of “shoddy funds management,” as well as deceiving regulators and investors. The SEC disclosed an email from 2018 where Binance’s Chief Compliance Officer wrote: “We do not want to be regulated ever.” Binance was also a key player in the collapse of FTX when it withdrew FTX’s currency in November. When word of insolvency was drawing near, the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, announced that Binance would liquidate all its holdings in FTT (estimated around $580 million), just before the crash. Although the firm had briefly reported that it would purchase FTX, it soon backtracked on the offer, resulting in FTX’s ultimate demise. The regulatory tug of war continues as to who has the final word on crypto regulation—the SEC or the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The SEC views crypto as securities, while the CFTC sees them as commodities. Whatever they decide, it is clear that, without a regulatory framework, confidence in crypto could wane, further hindering the expansion of the crypto industry.