Key Takeaways
- Binance Markets Limited, Binance’s UK subsidiary deregisters with UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
- Binance is under investigation in France
- Binance is showing signs of European exit, starting with the Netherlands and Cyprus
- The world’s biggest crypto exchange is in legal hot water in the US
Binance Markets Limited (BML), a subsidiary of the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance has officially filed for the withdrawal of registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority announced that “Binance Markets Limited is not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK. This firm is part of a wider Group (Binance Group).”
The regulator cited that “due to the imposition of requirements by the FCA, Binance Markets Limited is not currently permitted to undertake any regulated activities without the prior written consent of the FCA.”
Binance Exits The UK
In 2021, the FCA posed requirements on BML regarding the end of their services in the UK, to which BML complied. These requirements included posting the following statements on all of their official communication channels:
“BINANCE MARKETS LIMITED IS NOT PERMITTED TO UNDERTAKE ANY REGULATED ACTIVITY IN THE UK.”
“Due to the imposition of requirements by the FCA, Binance Markets Limited is not currently permitted to undertake any regulated activities without the prior written consent of the FCA. (No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorization, registration, or license to conduct regulated activity in the UK). Such authorization, registration or license is not required
for unregulated activities.”
BML has submitted its cancellation request for their FCA permissions which was completed on 30 May 2023.
Binance Exits Europe
Binance is showing several signs of a European market exit. The crypto exchange is currently under investigation by Paris authorities for alleged money laundering suspensions. Moreover, Binance has announced its exit from the Dutch market, citing the reason being “ailing to secure the service provider license, VASP.” Vasp is a license that confirms an exchange meets anti-money laundering (AML) guidelines.
Binance has also officially applied for deregistration from the Cyprus crypto asset service providers list with the country’s Securities and Exchange Commission. However, sources at the SEC claim that Binance never actually launched its business in the country.
The series of news comes at a time when the European Union is implementing a set of crypto-related regulations that aim to enhance the safety and transparency of digital assets trading. Most importantly, these regulations include a provision that states that any transactions above €1000 between private and corporate wallets must include tracing data.
Binance’s US problems
Binance is currently facing serious legal challenges in the US. The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed thirteen lawsuits against the crypto exchange. The lawsuits include allegations that include evasion of US regulators, wash trading, commingling customer funds, and artificially inflating trading volumes.
Crypto legal experts also speculate that Binance and founder Changpeng Zhao are likely to face federal charges filed by the US Department of Justice, following the SEC lawsuits. CZ is seemingly preparing himself by adding a former SEC Enforcement and former DOJ prosecutor to his legal defense team.
