Binance Exchange seems to be coming under growing scrutiny globally. This time, the UK has started an investigation against the company. Britain’s financial regulator has ordered Binance to stop all activities and issued a warning to the clients of the platform.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that Binance’s UK entity, "must not, without the prior written consent of the FCA, carry out any regulated activities … with immediate effect". Currently, UK residents will be able to use the services of Binance in other jurisdictions. However, some independent experts say that after the investigation, Binance is highly unlikely to be able to work in the UK.
About a year ago, Binance announced that it had acquired a company regulated by the FCA in order to trade cryptocurrency using pounds sterling and euros. Usually, by buying such firms, unscrupulous exchanges are trying to circumvent the current legislation. This is why, starting from January, the UK regulator requires that all companies associated with cryptocurrency trading register and comply with the anti-money laundering rules. However, the company ignored the FCA order.
"A significantly high number of businesses are not meeting the required standards under the Money Laundering Regulations resulting in an unprecedented number of businesses withdrawing their applications," the FCA said in a statement.
Notably, Binance has legislative problems not only in the UK. Japan's regulatory authority said on June 25 that Binance was operating in the country illegally. In April, the German financial regulator said that the exchange could be fined. The US Department of Justice also became interested in Binance's activities.
