Binance cancels registration in the UK amid regulatory checks.
Termination of Binance’s registration with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will not affect the operating activities of the cryptocurrency exchange. The corresponding statement was made by the regional manager of the company. He also stated that the cryptocurrency exchange has never conducted business in the United Kingdom.
Currently, the history of Binance is at one of the most difficult and least favorable stages. The company is leaving the main financial markets amid opposition provided by global regulators.
Binance Markets Limited (BML), a subsidiary of Binance in the United Kingdom, has officially canceled its registration with the FCA. After this action, no organization that is part of the ownership structure of the cryptocurrency exchange has the authority granted by the FCA, to carry out activities in the UK. The relevant information was published on the official website of the regulator.
The FCA reported that on May 30, 2023, the office completed the consideration of Binance’s request to revoke BML permissions. A week after that, the company withdrew from the category of organizations authorized by the FCA.
Ilir Laro, Binance’s sub-regional development manager in the UK and Europe, said that BML was successfully acquired by the cryptocurrency exchange back in 2020. He also noted that the company had intentions about launching a regulated business in the United Kingdom. These aspirations were never realized in the practical plane, as a result of which BML continued its existence as a formal firm that does not function and has a purely nominal status due to the absence of any activity.
On Sunday, June 18, Laro posted a message on Twitter, which contains information that the cryptocurrency exchange still has five regulated organizations in its ownership structure, which are based in Poland, Sweden, France, Italy, and Spain. He also noted that because MiCA, the European law on the regulation of cryptocurrencies, will come into force in 2024, the company will focus on obtaining permits to operate in EU countries.
The cryptocurrency exchange last week revoked its registration in Cyprus in preparation for the start of the MiCA. Also last week, the company announced the termination of services in the Netherlands due to the lack of a local license. At the beginning of June, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria stated that Binance Nigeria Limited was committing illegal activities because it did not have a local registration and was not under the control of the regulator. The cryptocurrency exchange claims that this firm is not part of its ownership structure.
Binance Strategy Director Patrick Hillmann expressed a commitment to regulation in the UK amid problems in the United States. The company has faced two civil lawsuits from U.S. regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The crypto exchange was charged with the use of misleading practices, manipulative trading, diversion of client assets, misuse of funds, placement of unregistered securities, and a contradictory algorithm for providing access to the Binance site to American clients.
