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Thailand SEC Files Criminal Complaint Against Binance
The SEC alleges the crypto exchange is operating a digital-asset business in the country without a license.
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 1:20 p.m. Published Jul 2, 2021, 10:30 a.m.
Binance's woes continue as Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a criminal complaint against the crypto exchange for allegedly operating in the country without a license.
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- The securities regulator filed the complaint with the Economic Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police (ECD), saying Binance had failed to meet a deadline for responding to an earlier warning , according to an announcement on the SEC's website Friday .
- The SEC claims the exchange solicited the Thai public to use its services via its website or the "Binance Thai Community" page on Facebook.
- That means Binance is operating an unlicensed digital-asset business, the regulator said.
- "Only providers who have obtained relevant licenses under the law are allowed to provide services related to digital asset trading, exchange, depository, transfer, withdrawal or any transactions related to digital assets," the SEC said.
- The regulator said it issued a warning letter on April 5 this year requiring Binance to submit a written response. It failed to do so within the specified time, the SEC said.
- The complaint comes at a turbulent period for the crypto exchange. It has received a warning over a similar matter from the regulator in Japan, been barred from conducting regulated activity in the U.K. and pulled out of operating in Ontario following regulatory action against fellow exchanges in the Canadian province.
- Binance did not immediately respond to CoinDesk's emailed request for comment.
Read more: Thai SEC Warns DeFi Transactions Could Be Subject to Applicable Licensing Law
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