Binance Advises European Users to Convert Euros to USDT Following Paysafe Partnership Termination

Crypto exchange Binance has advised its European users to convert their Euro (EUR) balances into Tether (USDT) before October 31 due to the loss of support from its banking partner, Paysafe. This announcement was made on Thursday, revealing that Paysafe had “unilaterally decided to stop processing EUR deposits for Binance users.”

In a statement, Binance clarified that users can still withdraw their EUR balances to their respective banks. However, starting from September 28, Paysafe users were barred from trading EUR spot pairs, and open orders were canceled shortly after. Additionally, Binance Convert, the platform’s token swap service, has also restricted EUR transactions.

This decision from Paysafe came after it suspended Euro deposits on September 25. Previously, the company had facilitated fiat deposits and withdrawals for Binance users in Europe, including bank transfers within the EU’s Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). In May, Paysafe had also stopped GBP transactions because of regulatory concerns raised by U.K. financial authorities.

This latest development compounds a series of regulatory and banking hurdles that Binance has faced in Western nations. In June, Binance announced its exit from the Netherlands and received an order from Belgian officials to cease its services within a week. However, reports indicated that, as of September 26, Binance had reopened new registrations for users in Belgium.

Alongside the end of the partnership with Paysafe, Binance is grappling with legal challenges from American regulatory bodies and increasing scrutiny from European regulators regarding its operations. Despite these issues, Binance has assured users that it is working on integrating new fiat channels to its platform in the near future.

While facing regulatory challenges in some European regions, Binance is also making strategic moves in other markets. The exchange recently announced its exit from Russia, selling its operations to a newly established exchange called CommEX. Concurrently, Binance has resumed operations in Belgium by transferring its Belgian clients to Poland, leveraging European Union laws that allow the exchange to manage client accounts from a registered entity in another EU country.

In other developments, Binance is taking part in efforts to create a stablecoin for Japan and to speed up the adoption of Web3 technologies in the region, as the local stablecoin market is projected to reach $34 billion.