All activities of the "Binance" platform in Britain have been suspended
The United Kingdom's Financial Supervisory Authority has ordered the suspension of all activities of "Binance" in Britain, and imposed strict requirements to allow it to operate again in the Kingdom, in what was considered a major blow to one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world.
The Financial Times said the FSA's intervention in recent days is one of the most significant steps any global regulator has taken against Binance, a sprawling digital asset company with branches around the world that operates as a platform or exchange for trading cryptocurrencies around the world. The British authorities gave the company until next Wednesday evening to confirm its compliance with the regulator's demands.
The intervention is indicative of regulators stepping in to curb the cryptocurrency industry due to concerns about its potential role in illicit activities such as money laundering and fraud.
The FCA also issued a consumer warning against both Cayman Islands-listed Binance Holdings and Binance Markets Limited, a London-based subsidiary. The authority said that Binance Markets Limited will not be permitted to conduct any regulated activity in the UK, stressing that "no other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of authorization, registration or license in the UK to conduct regulated activity in the country."
Binance previously said it "takes the UK regulator's instructions very seriously and is committed to following the requirements of the authorities in the countries in which they operate."
Binance is one of the major platforms for cryptocurrency trading, offering a wide range of services around the world, including trading in dozens of digital currencies, futures, and stocks, as well as savings and lending accounts, with cryptocurrency trading volumes recording nearly 1.5 trillion. dollars last month.
Binance Markets Limited is not accredited under the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) cryptocurrency registration system, which said its focus is on reviewing controls and practices to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
The authority said it had ordered Binance to secure and retain all records and information about all UK consumers, and to stop any promotional and financial advertising.
The UK FSA's decision comes after Japan's Financial Services Agency warned last week that Binance was conducting unauthorized trading in cryptocurrencies with Japanese nationals.
This is the second time a financial services authority has warned Binance after publishing a similar notice in 2018. Germany's financial watchdog also warned investors in April that Binance may have violated securities rules over its launch of cryptocurrency trading, something the company has attempted to appeal. against him to no avail.
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