Binance Cancels Registration with the FCA
- The FCA, on its website noted that no Binance entity is permitted to offer its services in the UK.
- Binance faces lawsuits from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
- French authorities recently revealed that Binance was the subject of an investigation.
Binance has continued to withdraw its services from different regions following increased scrutiny of its operations. The exchange’s UK subsidiary, Binance Markets Limited (BML), has reportedly canceled its registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A Binance spokesperson said the UK unit of the firm held registrations for services it never offered in the UK.
The spokesperson said,
As these permissions were unlikely to be required in the future, Binance Markets Limited decided that it would be prudent to cancel them in line with the FCA’s recommendations to keep them updated.
A recent update on the FCA’s website states that the cancellation of Binance’s registration was completed on May 30, 2023. As a result, no Binance-affiliated organization is permitted to operate within the UK.
The FCA wrote on its website,
Following the completion of the cancellation of permissions, the firm is no longer authorized by the FC. No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorization or registration to conduct regulated business in the UK.
A Binance spokesperson revealed that the cancellation of BLM’s registration has had no impact on the activities of Binance Global. The spokesperson added that Binance “does not own or operate any crypto services in the UK and is only available to UK consumers on a reverse solicitation basis.”
BML was introduced in June 2020 following Binance’s acquisition and rebranding of a local business known as EddieUK. Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao was named as the “person with significant control” over the organization. A Binance representative at the time said the deal would help launch Binance.uk, which would have functioned similarly to the Binance.US exchange but would focus on UK users.
Today’s announcement comes as Binance faces regulatory struggles in different countries. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the exchange earlier this month, claiming that it breached US securities laws. Last week, French authorities revealed that Binance was the subject of an investigation. The exchange is being investigated for possibly aiding money laundering.
Binance has had to withdraw from Cyprus and the Netherlands in recent days. However, Ilir Laro, the exchange’s sub-regional manager for growth in the UK and Europe, claimed Binance has regulated units in Sweden, France, Spain, Poland, and Italy.
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