The Federal Court of Australia has imposed a 10 million Australian dollar penalty, equivalent to approximately $6.9 million, on Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, which operates under the name Binance Australia Derivatives. The ruling follows the company’s admission that it wrongly categorised the majority of its Australian client base, leaving retail investors exposed to high-risk crypto derivative products without the legally required protections. The case represents a significant enforcement action in the country’s digital asset sector.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) confirmed that 524 retail investors were incorrectly treated as wholesale clients during a period spanning July 2022 to April 2023. As a result of this misclassification, those clients collectively suffered $6.3 million in trading losses and paid an additional $2.6 million in fees. The regulator identified the misclassification as affecting more than 85% of the firm’s Australian client base.
Beyond the misclassification itself, Binance Australia Derivatives admitted to several additional compliance failures in a statement of agreed facts submitted to the court. These included a failure to provide product disclosure statements to retail clients, an absence of a target market determination, and the lack of a compliant internal dispute resolution system. Each of these obligations is a standard regulatory requirement for firms offering financial products to retail investors in Australia.
The court-ordered fine is separate from a compensation arrangement that was already established in November 2023, under which the company’s local derivatives unit was directed to pay approximately $9 million to affected clients. Combined, the financial consequences for Binance’s Australian derivatives operation now exceed $15 million. The dual outcomes reflect both the punitive and remedial dimensions of the regulatory response.
Binance did not provide a response to media requests for comment at the time of reporting. ASIC’s action against the firm underscores the regulator’s continued focus on ensuring that crypto derivative providers meet the same consumer protection standards applied to traditional financial services. Further developments in the case may emerge as additional information becomes available.
Originally reported by CoinTelegraph.
