Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has unveiled its plan to become a “fully licensed and fully compliant” exchange in order to serve users in the U.K. The crypto exchange is reportedly “making a number of very substantial changes” in the way it operates in order to comply with the country’s regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Binance Plans to Launch a Fully Licensed Crypto Exchange in the UK
Binance is working to become a fully licensed and fully compliant cryptocurrency exchange in order to launch in the U.K. where it recently ran into trouble with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
The exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), said in an interview with The Telegraph that Binance will reapply for a license with the FCA. He believes that his exchange’s relationship with the British regulator has improved. He told the news outlet:
We’re fully re-engaged there … We’re making a number of very substantial changes in organizational structures, product offerings, our internal processes, and the way we work with regulators.
The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority issued a consumer warning on Binance in June stating that no entity “in the Binance Group holds any form of U.K. authorization, registration or license to conduct regulated activity in the U.K.” In August, the FCA said that Binance was no longer in violation of its rules but noted that the company has not applied for a license to operate a crypto exchange.
“We want to continue to establish a presence in the U.K. and serve U.K. users in a fully licensed and fully compliant manner,” Zhao emphasized, adding that Binance hopes to become a registered crypto asset firm in six to 18 months.
Following the warning by the FCA, several major banks in the U.K. began restricting payments to Binance, including Barclays, HSBC, Natwest, and Santander.
Besides the FCA, a number of other regulators have issued warnings of various kinds about Binance, including regulators in the U.S., South Africa, Singapore, Australia, Norway, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Germany, Italy, India, Malaysia, and Lithuania. In August, Binance said it was making regulatory compliance its top priority.
Zhao further shared with the publication that when regulators asked Binance “a very simple question: ‘Where’s your headquarters?’ and our response was that we have no headquarters, that we’re a decentralized organization, they didn’t know how to work with us.” The CEO concluded:
We understand that now. So now we’re in the process of setting up real offices, legal entities, a proper board, proper governance structures in most places, including the U.K.
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