Binance to Accept Deposits from SEPA Amid Paysafe Partnership

After months of suspension, Binance is finally looking to accept deposits from the European Union’s Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) as per a recent Bloomberg report. 

What was the Tussle About?

In July 2021, Binance, the world’s top spot exchange by trade volume had temporarily halted payments from SEPA.

At the time, the company cited via email to customers that the suspension was ‘due to events beyond our control’ and that it was ‘working hard to find a solution with our partners.’

The SEPA network was designed to simplify bank transfers among 27 EU member countries. The scheme was set up by the European Union in conjunction with the European Payments Council to simplify making international payments in Euros.

The process of reinstating payments from EU’s SEPA will begin with an initial phased rollout in Belgium and Bulgaria before potentially expanding to other users in the weeks ahead, though the UK isn’t currently in scope, the report revealed.

The company also revealed that it is set to partner with London-based Paysafe to ensure that it can keep offering SEPA ‘for the foreseeable future.’

Binance’s move to end the freeze will come as a boost to the network which has faced considerable probes and consumer warnings in several countries, including the US, UK, Japan, and Germany. 

Binance’s Tug-o-war Could Continue

Over the last year, Binance faced several European headwinds including Barclays blocking customers from using their debit and credit cards to make payments to the crypto exchange.

Further, in June 2021, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that Binance was not allowed to conduct any regulated activities in the country.

Launched in 2017, Binance is now the world’s top crypto exchange by volume and offers a high average liquidity of 814. At the time of writing, Binance’s 24-hour volume was down 17.32% and stood just over $17 billion.

A few reasons behind the declined spot volumes could be the volatile market as well as Bitcoin’s rangebound movement under the $40K mark. That said, Binance Coin (BNB) traded at $394.77 noting a 5.69% rise in price over the last day. 

In the last week, Binance saw considerable media attention after a 5-year sponsorship deal with Argentina’s national soccer team. While the exchange has had a bitter-sweet year as reports about Binance failing to live up to its anti-money laundering obligations came up, the exchange still tops in terms of global trade volumes.