Popular crypto exchange Binance is now free to operate in the UK following clearance by the region’s regulatory body, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
FCA’s clearance of Binance comes two months after it had imposed restrictions on the exchange’s operations in the UK. It now seems the regulator is finally satisfied with the compliance measures Binance has taken.
Back in June 25 2021, UK’s regulatory body FCA affirmed that Binance would be unable to undertake any regulated activities without the prior written consent of the FCA.
Binance’s Regulatory Woes
Binance’s immediate response to the June ban was a clarification that Binance Markets Limited, which was the target in FCA’s restriction, was not the entity offering derivatives products in the UK.
Despite the assurance, the growing regulatory scrutiny directed towards Binance was growing all over the world. Japan followed after the UK, then Singapore joined shortly after.
At the start of July, Cayman Islands also issued a warning that Binance was not authorized to operate in the islands. The following day, Thailand’s SEC went a step further and filed a criminal complaint against Binance for operating in the country without a license.
Binance’s Compliance Journey
Considering all these threats coming in from all directions, Binance started making significant steps towards financial compliance. Following scrutiny from German regulators about its tokenized tokens, Binance discontinued the offering.
To reduce the niche for criminal activities, Binance reduced the daily withdrawal limit for its non-KYC users from 2 BTC to 0.06 BTC. Furthermore, the exchange reduced its derivatives trading limit from 125X to 21X.
The firm’s CEO Changpeng Zhao shared the news of FCA’s clearance of Binance on Twitter. He spearheaded Binance’s journey to compliance too by offering to step down for someone better equipped to lead the exchange to compliance. Additionally, Binance plans to set up individual headquarters in countries it is operating in. The move is to better keep the exchange in touch with the local regulatory requirements of each country.
