The Federal Court of Australia has ordered Oztures Trading Pty Ltd, operating as Binance Australia Derivatives, to pay a 10 million Australian dollar ($6.9 million) penalty after admitting it misclassified more than 85% of its Australian clients, exposing retail investors to high-risk crypto derivatives without proper safeguards.
Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) said the issue affected 524 retail investors who were incorrectly categorized as wholesale clients between July 2022 and April 2023. These investors collectively suffered $6.3 million in trading losses and paid $2.6 million in fees.
Binance also acknowledged multiple compliance failures, including failing to provide product disclosure statements to retail clients, neglecting to define a target market, and not maintaining a compliant internal dispute resolution system.
The penalty adds to roughly $9 million in compensation that Binance’s local derivatives arm was previously ordered to pay affected clients in November 2023.
