The financial watchdog of the United Kingdom has ordered the international exchange Binance to stop all its regulated activities in Britain. The watchdog has implemented stringent requirements on the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. This has led to a major decline in the firm’s performance.
The requirements that the Financial Conduct Authority has imposed on Binance is one of the largest and damaging moves that have been made against it. Binance is a major digital asset company and has many subsidiaries across the globe and this major move by the global regulator has significant impacts.
This move made by Britain’s watchdog came at a time when Binance was under scrutiny by regulators in other countries. These countries include the United States as well as Germany amongst others.
The Financial Conduct Authority gave Binance until Wednesday to implement the new rules to its system. It will be confirmed on the appointed day whether or not Binance complied with the demands made by Britain’s watchdog.
The cryptocurrency industry has the potential to make illegal activities such as money laundering and fraud easy. This is because cryptocurrencies are not insured and have weak consumer protection. This intervention by the FCA shows how much awareness regulators of the harms of the crypto industry.
The FCA issued a warning over the weekend against Binance Markets Limited which is a London-based affiliate of the company. It is led by Changpeng Zhao who is the chief executive and is regulated by a British regulator. The warning was also issued against the Cayman Islands which is a registered company under Binance Holdings Company.
The warning by the FCA stated that Binance Markets Limited is not allowed to take over any regulated activities in the United Kingdom. The statement further said that there are no UK authorizations, registrations, or licenses under Binance Group that can allow them to perform regulated activities in the UK.
The Binance Group has not yet responded to the warning. It has also not reacted or agreed to make a statement yet for press releases. However, the firm has stated previously that they take the regulations by countries very seriously.