In an unprecedented move, Binance plans to delist a large number of trading pairs associated with the AUD. This was announced via a blog post on May 26, titled “Notice of Removal of Trading Pairs 2023-06-01,” signaling the intention of the exchange to discontinue pairing with the Australian dollar. Even though Binance did not say the reason for the move, it is suspected to be linked to increased regulatory scrutiny of the activities of the cryptocurrency exchange in the country.
Discontinuation of AUD trading pairs
In the general announcement, Binance specified that these pairs would be removed from its spot market on June 1. These pairs are ADA/AUD, AUD/BUSD, XRP/AUD, AUD/USDT, BNB/AUD, BTC/AUD, MATIC/AUD, DOGE/AUD, ETH/AUD, GALA/AU, and SOL/AUD.
Binanance had earlier delisted LINK/AUD,PE/AUD, DOT/AUD, AVAX/AUD, AXS/AUD, FTM/AUD, SAND/AUD, and SHIB/AUD. The reports said that the platform will stop trading these pairs by 6 a.m. UTC on June 1, 2023.
The company said that the token pairs are still available for trading with other assets that they have been paired with. However, those who have activated trading bots with the AUD were advised to deactivate them prior to the deadline for trading the pairs on Binance.
Tougher crypto regulations in Australia
The Australian government has doubled down on regulatory scrutiny of cryptocurrency entities. It is suspected that this is the primary reason for the delisting of the Australian pairs from the Binance spot market.
Last August, representatives of the country’s government announced that tougher crypto regulation was underway. A consultation paper published by the Australian Treasury stated that holders of cryptocurrencies would declare them in their tax returns. Worthy of note was also a section of the document that stated that every token will be defined with respect to how it fits into the planned regulation in what was termed “token mapping.”
Discontinuation of derivatives in Australia
On April 6, Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao said that Binance Australia will continue trading in the spot market after ASIC cancelled the third-party license issued to Oztures Trading Pty as a derivatives. The ASIC action stopped Binance clients from increasing their derivatives positions or opening new ones with effect from April 14. Existing positions were also closed by clients before April 21, 2023. Outstanding positions were closed by the company.
