Cyptocurrency exchange Binance Australia has been fined $2 million for breaching the Spam Act, after sending more than 5.7 million unsolicited emails that were impossible to unsubscribe from.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority found Binance sent the emails between October 2021 and May 2022 promoting its exchange.

ACMA chair Nerida O’Loughlin said the regulator sent multiple warnings to Binance Australia.

“Customers should not be made to log in to stop receiving messages,” O’Loughlin said of the breach.

“It is very concerning that we continue to see breaches of the spam laws from large-sized companies that should have good compliance practices in place.

“The Spam Act has been in force since 2003, so there are simply no excuses.”

Binance Australia must also train its staff and has agreed to a three year, court-enforceable undertaking committing to an independent review of its marketing practices.

“Binance Australia sent marketing emails to users that inadvertently failed to comply with the Spam Act,” admitted a company spokesperson.

“The majority of the non-compliant emails required users to be logged into their account before being able to unsubscribe.

“We accept ACMA’s findings and have paid the fine. Importantly, we have upgraded our system to ensure marketing emails are compliant with ACMA’s standards.

“We have also appointed an independent consultant to review email communication policies and conduct training for employees responsible for sending electronic messages.

“We apologise to users who have been inconvenienced and are committed to providing Binance users the best customer experience.

“Binance Australia became aware of ACMA’s investigatory notice in May. ACMA’s requests were coming through an email that was not intended for regulator requests, and therefore it was not monitored regularly.”