Binance Australia resumes bank transfers after two years… first restoration since ‘debanking’ fallout

Binance’s Australian entity has resumed local bank transfer services after a two-year hiatus. It marks the first restoration since it was effectively shut out of Australia’s financial system in 2023, allowing local users to once again make direct fiat deposits and withdrawals.

According to crypto industry outlet Cointelegraph on the 19th, Binance Australia has been gradually reopening fiat on- and off-ramps via bank accounts and PayID for Australian users since last week. The feature, which had been piloted with a subset of users last year, has now been rolled out more broadly.

The restart was enabled through a new payments partnership. Binance Australia said it has rebuilt a stable fiat payments network based on a payments structure with enhanced security and strengthened regulatory requirements.

Previously, Binance Australia’s bank transfers were suspended in full in 2023 after a third-party payments provider withdrew support. While the provider did not disclose specific reasons at the time, it later said it was scaling back dealings with crypto-related customers as part of fraud and financial crime risk management.

As a result, Australian users had to rely for nearly two years on card payments or crypto deposits and withdrawals. The local industry has continued to raise concerns about “debanking” tied to crypto trading.

Binance said the restoration of fiat services is being rolled out in phases. Alongside strengthening its compliance framework and reviewing the user experience (UX), it aims to ensure stable operations for local users numbering in the hundreds of thousands.