Binance has announced that it will deny all cryptocurrency exchange services to users in the United States in the near future.
On June 14, 2019, Binance’s official website posted an announcement claiming that “some users may be required to furnish evidence showing that their account registrations are consistent with Binance's Terms of Use.” Furthermore, after 90 days, “users who are not in accordance with Binance’s Terms of Use will continue to have access to their wallets and funds, but will no longer be able to trade or deposit on Binance.com.”
A simultaneous update to the terms of use reveals a key new line: “Binance is unable to provide services to any U.S. person.”
One day prior to this announcement, Binance stated that it would be launching a new partnership with BAM Trading Services Inc. to develop a Binance.US site that would cater to U.S. customers. In a short page of text, the fact that this new site is compliant with U.S. regulations is mentioned no fewer than three times.
“Some short term pains may be necessary for long term gains,” wrote Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao on Twitter. “We always work hard to turn every short term pain into a long term gain.”
Binance suffered a substantial hack in May, losing more than $40 million worth of bitcoin. At the time, this loss represented more than 2 percent of Binance’s entire liquidity. This damage was substantial enough to warrant significant alterations to Binance’s security. Since then, other exchanges have followed suit and begun to enhance their own security practices.