Binance Subsidiary Cancels Registration With UK Regulator

Binance Markets Limited, a UK subsidiary of Binance, has canceled its registration with a UK regulator. 

That came in a June 7 update from the Financial Conduct Authority that said the subsidiary is not allowed to “undertake any regulated activity in the UK.”

“Following the completion of the cancellation of permissions the firm is no longer authorised by the FCA. No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorisation or registration to conduct regulated business in the UK,” the regulator said in an update.   

Binance did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

This comes after Binance’s Chief Strategy Officer Patrick Hillmann said at the Financial Times’ crypto and digital assets summit in May that the company would do “everything we possibly can” to be regulated in the UK, according to the news site. 

Around the world

Last week the world’s largest crypto exchange said it was leaving the Dutch market following an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a virtual asset service provider from the Dutch regulator. 

Also last week, Binance withdrew its application to be registered as a crypto service provider in Cyprus and said it was pulling back from the country to focus on complying with the new MiCA regulatory framework in the European Union, according to a statement sent to CoinDesk. 

MiCA, or markets in crypto assets, is Europe’s landmark crypto regulatory framework. 

In the US, Binance is facing heat from regulators after being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this month for their “blatant disregard of the federal securities laws,” along with 13 charges, including operating an unregistered exchange.

The SEC said Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and Binance knew that they were operating the Binance.com platform in violation of various US laws.

At the time, a Binance spokesperson told cryptonews that the SEC’s charges came after “extensive cooperation and recent good-faith negotiations,” in an emailed statement. 

“… despite our efforts at productive engagement, the SEC abandoned and denied us due process, and instead unilaterally chose to litigate,” the spokesperson said.