Binance UK abandons unit creation

The British subsidiary, which never became operational, canceled its registration and appears to have ended plans to create a Binance.UK unit for the benefit.

Binance Markets Limited (BML), the British subsidiary of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has officially canceled its registration with the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The change means the company “can no longer offer regulated activities and products” in the UK, the regulator says.

According to a June 7 update on the Financial Conduct Authority’s website, the registration was withdrawn at the company’s request, “completed on May 30, 2023 and reflected in the FCA register.”

“Following the revocation of permissions, the firm is no longer authorized by the FCA,” the UK financial regulator said. “No other company in the Binance group has any form of authorization or registration in the UK to conduct regulated business in the UK.”

What is Binance Markets Limited?

BML was launched in June 2020 after the finance firm acquired and rebranded EddieUK, with the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao, named as a “person with significant control” over the company.

At the time, a Binance spokesperson said Decrypt was acquired to help the company launch Binance.UK, a planned crypto exchange designed to cater to UK consumers, much like its US unit Binance.US.

In June 2021, the FCA issued a consumer warning about Binance’s UK subsidiary, although it remained inactive.

“Binance Markets Limited holds a number of FCA authorizations for activities that have never been carried out or issued in the UK,” Binance spokesperson Decrypt says. “As these approvals will no longer be required in the future, Binance Markets Limited has decided that it would be prudent to revoke them in accordance with FCA recommendations to keep them current.”

According to the exchange, the decision will have “no impact” on global trading platform Binance.com, “which does not own or operate any crypto services in the UK and is only available to UK consumers on a reverse order basis.”

Finance and Regulators

Amid regulatory challenges for Binance, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the exchange in early June, saying it violated US securities laws and French authorities are investigating the company for crimes including “aggravated money laundering”. .”

Last week, Finance announced plans to exit Cyprus, with a company spokesperson telling Decrypt to focus on “efforts on less regulated entities in the EU”.

In a separate development, Binance announced the closure of its operations in the Netherlands after failing to obtain a virtual asset service provider (VASP) license.

At the end of May, Richard Deng stepped in as the new Head of Regional Markets at Binance, thanks to his experience working with regulators. But since he took up the post, including promises to become the group’s future CEO, the situation has not been favourable.

* Translated by Winnie Barbosa With authorization from Encryption.