Binance Australia was given 12 hours’ notice before being debanked, according to an executive.

Binance Australia’s regional manager, Ben Rose, claimed that their team was informed in the middle of the night that they would be “cut off” from Australia’s banking system without prior warning or consultation. On May 18, Binance Australia announced that its dollar services were suspended after its payments provider, Zepto, was instructed to stop supporting Binance by Cuscal, Zepto’s partner banking and payments provider. According to Rose, the move affected around 1 million customers in Australia. Cuscal cited crypto-related “scams and fraud” as the reason for the decision. Binance customers were initially concerned, but it became clear that the wider local crypto industry was affected by the banking changes. On the same day that Cuscal cut ties with Binance, Westpac announced that it would begin trials to block payments to crypto exchanges, followed by Commonwealth Bank less than a month later. Binance is currently searching for an alternative third-party payments provider, but Cuscal provides banking services for most of the industry. Binance users are using other methods, such as purchases and deposits to bank cards, which are still supported by the platform. Rose stressed the need for sensible licensing for the industry and called for Australia to act quickly before other jurisdictions.