Executive Says Binance Australia Had 12 Hours’ Notice Before Debanking

In the middle of the night, the Binance Australia team was suddenly informed that it would be “cut out” from the Australian banking system. Ben Rose, the exchange’s regional manager, has claimed that there was no prior warning, consultation or redress.

On May 18, Binance Australian suspended its dollar services after it announced that its payments provider Zepto had been asked to discontinue support for Binance by Kuscal – Zepto’s partner banking and payments provider.

Rose told an audience at Australian Blockchain Week on June 26 that the move affected approximately 1 million customers based in Australia.

“We got a 24-hour notice of debanking at 11:30 pm, which was later changed to 12 hours, and so we stopped our banking.”

Rose said, “The reasons given were not entirely clear and did not come off as well in the media.” Earlier, a spokesperson for Quskal declined to comment on matters related to Binance Australia to Cointelegraph, but pointed to crypto-related “scams and frauds.”

The limited information initially worried Binance customers but “that tone changed very quickly” when it became clear that it was the wider local crypto industry “affected by these banking changes,” Rose said.

On the same day that Kuskal removed Binance, “Big Four” bank Westpac said it would begin testing that would block payments to crypto exchanges. Less than a month later, another major Australian bank, the Commonwealth Bank, introduced a similar crypto-related payment block.

Speaking to Cointelegraph after his on-stage interview, Rose declined to provide any additional details regarding Binance Australia’s search for an alternative third-party payment provider as discussions are ongoing.

Rose said there are other providers but acknowledged that Kuskal “banks the vast majority of this industry.”

Australia’s crypto industry has long relied on crypto-friendly payment providers including Monova, Zai and Zepto – all of which are in partnership with Kuskal to access the local banking system.

The Kuscal-backed payment rail is used by Binance’s peer-to-peer crypto exchanges, including BTC Markets, Kraken Australia, CoinJar, Independent Reserve and many other crypto-related fintech firms.

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On stage, Rose claimed that losing access to his banking partner “had no real impact on the business.” He added that Binance users are “using other methods,” possibly purchasing and depositing on bank cards that are still supported on the platform.

He stressed the need to work with regulators and the banking sector, and the possibility of implementing “sensible licensing” for the industry.

“We would call on Australia to move relatively quickly as jurisdictions around the world are now moving forward,” Rose said.

“We have a window as a country and we think there is an opportunity, but there is also a risk if we don’t move relatively quickly on licensing.”

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