The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has issued a $2m fine to Binance Australia.
The penalty was imposed as part of the regulator’s anti-spam campaign that has now caught up with Binance.
According to an investigation by the regulator, Binance Australia ended up sending more than 5.7 million commercial emails that made it hard for consumers to opt out forced users to log into their account to unsubscribe.
At least 25 emails were sent without permission from recipients, the ACMA discovered. The period of the infringement covers October 2021 to May 2022.
ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said that Binance should have made it much simpler to unsubscribe from their marketing messages and it should not require a login to complete the process. This, O’Loughlin said, was part of the Spam Act of 2003.
The ACMA has also accepted a three-year court-enforceable undertaking from Binance Australia which will see the company undergo an independent review of its online marketing practices and policies and seek to introduce and implement improvements.
Binance was warned about the infringement during the course of the investigation and ahead of the penalty, but the business failed to take any appropriate action, which the regulator described as “disappointing”.
In some instances, consumers had to file formal complaints to have the commercial emails unsubscribed. Binance is one of the few remaining cryptocurrency exchanges which has not experienced a major problem with its liquidity and has in fact helped set up an emergency fund for the sector.
Binance boss Changpeng Zhao recently told crypto followers that 99% of people are not prepared for self-custodied crypto solutions. His remarks come after FTX lost an estimated $8bn of consumer funds.
Looking for your next crypto casino? Check out: Bitcasino or FortuneJack.