The FCA has been warning Binance about its situation in the UK since last year. In addition to that notice, the company has received others from financial regulators in Japan and Germany.
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently banned Binance Markets Limited from doing any regulated activities in the UK without authorization.
The information appeared on the website of the regulatory body in a letter where they provide some arguments. They said that, due to requirements by the FCA, Binance Markets Limited must not conduct any regulated activity without our prior consent.
According to the report, no other entity in the Binance Group has an authorization, registration or license to do regulated activities in the UK. They also warned that the exchange platform could be offering products and services through a website.
The exchange applied to become a registered cryptocurrency company, as the law requires from those types of British institutions. However, they withdrew the application in May due to the strict criteria of the regulatory body to approve the practices. The latter says that it seeks to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing through those types of assets.
The regulator also established that Binance should post on its website that it cannot do regulated activities in the UK. Therefore, they must secure and preserve customer information from their systems and stop all kinds of financial advertising, says the FCA.
Binance Has Already Received Other Warnings in the Past
Last year, Binance established itself as part of a larger group to launch the Binance.UK platform. The platform bought a financial company already registered with the regulator to operate in the country without problems.
It is not the first time that Binance has received a warning for offering products and services to citizens without the corresponding permit. For example, in October 2020, the FCA said that its new regulation prohibited the sale of cryptocurrency-related products. They mentioned derivatives such as options, futures and publicly traded notes that companies operating in the UK regulate.
The warning of the FCA is contradictory as Binance has assisted British police in investigating a fraud involving USD 50 million. The exchange included a letter of praise from the UK’s South East Regional Organized Crime Unit on its blog.
In recent days, the first cryptocurrency exchange by transaction volume said it helped the British police force. Thanks to that, they were able to arrest a seller of phishing tools that caused the theft of millions of sterling pounds (CBP).
The warning of the FCA adds to the one that Japan made recently and the one that Germany made in April. Japan’s Financial Services Agency told the Binance exchange that it did not have any record with them. The CEO of the firm said that his legal team worked alongside Japanese regulators to obtain a license.
Additionally, regulators in other countries, such as the United States and Canada, have the platform in their sights. A few days ago, Binance announced it would close its operations in Ontario, Canada, without specifying the reasons.
By Alexander Salazar
