Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) announced Friday that it has ordered cryptocurrency exchange Binance to “cease immediately all offers of virtual currency services in Belgium.”

The FSMA noted that “Binance is offering and providing exchange services in Belgium between virtual currencies and legal currencies, as well as custody wallet services, from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area.” The financial regulator emphasized: “The FSMA takes the view that by offering such services in Belgium from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area, Binance is in violation of that prohibition

“Failure to comply with this prohibition is subject to criminal sanctions pursuant to Article 136 of the Belgian Law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing,” the regulator warned.

In addition to ordering Binance to cease crypto activities in Belgium, the FSMA stated that it has “demanded that Binance take immediate measures” to return to Belgian clients “all cryptographic keys and/or all virtual currencies that Binance holds for their account, or to transfer these to entities governed by the law of an EEA member state and duly authorized by their domestic law to carry out such activities.

In the absence of specific regulations, the common law and relevant provisions of the Belgian Criminal Code are applicable to crypto assets, the FSMA noted.

Binance is facing increased regulatory scrutiny across multiple countries. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Binance, CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), and Binance US. In addition, Binance has ceased operations in the United Kingdom. The exchange has also pulled out of the Netherlands and is seeking to deregister in Cyprus. Furthermore, French investigators are investigating Binance on allegations of money laundering and regulatory breaches.