Binance has relaunched its crypto futures products in South Africa through its partnership with Fivewest OTC Desk.

The crypto exchange stated in its latest announcement, “From 2022-09-26 08:00 (UTC), USDⓈ-M and COIN-M perpetual and delivery Futures contracts will be available to South African users on Binance through a juristic representative arrangement with FiveWest OTC Desk (Pty) Ltd (FiveWest).”

FiveWest is an authorized Financial Services Provider in the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 with FSP no. 51619. 

Brickhouse Trading Ltd (Brickhouse), a member of the Binance group of companies, will offer derivative products to users in South Africa as a juristic representative of FiveWest. 

Binance further stated that the type of products offered and related product specifications have not changed from Binance’s previous Futures offering in South Africa. Only the manner in which the services are provided has changed. Additionally, users may still connect to the Binance platform and access the same market-leading liquidity.

Binance South African Director Hannes Wessels also commented, “We are pleased to be relaunching crypto futures in partnership with Fivewest as it delivers on our core focus on ensuring local industry compliance while enabling greater access to digital assets for South Africans.” 

Binance CEO and co-founder Changpeng Zhao added that South Africa is a very important market to the company and that Binance remains focused on building user trust through regulatory compliance, security, and strategic partnerships.

Binance blocked South Africans from using its margin, options, futures, and leveraged tokens trading services last year in October. This came after the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) issued a strangely-worded public warning against trading on Binance.

The regulator stated in its announcement, “The FSCA cautions the public that should they consider derivative market transactions, then only do so with a properly registered Financial Services Provider.”

“The FSCA received information that Binance Group, an international company has a Telegram group that members of the South African public can join to gain access to their cryptocurrency exchange platform. The FSCA would like to caution that in addition to this entity not being authorized to provide any financial services or business, crypto-related investments are currently not regulated by the FSCA or any other body in South Africa,” it further stated.

Binance operates the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, according to rankings on Coinmarketcap and CoinGecko. It also has the largest derivatives exchange by volume and open interests.