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One of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance, has been banned in the United Kingdom effective Sunday June 27, 2021.
Britain's financial watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, cited the company's inability to curtail money laundering and fraud.
“A significantly high number of cryptoasset businesses are not meeting the required standards under the money laundering regulations, which has resulted in an unprecedented number of businesses withdrawing their applications,” an FCA spokesperson said. Of the firms assessed, more than 90% have withdrawn applications following the FCA’s intervention.
The move represents the UK's most substantial regulatory crackdown on the cryptocurrency sector.
Binance allows its customers to trade in dozens of digital coins, futures, options, stock tokens, as well as savings accounts and lending.
Binance also will no longer be open for business in Canada’s most populous province, Ontario. In company in this instance chose to close shop fearing actions filed against it for potentially failing to comply with Ontario securities laws.
Our colleagues over at CoinGeek have been reporting on a probe by the US DOJ and IRS into Binance.
Jordan Atkins, reporting for CoinGeek, writes:
Though the investigation is currently confidential and has yet to be confirmed by officials, it is not surprising. There has been considerable smoke surrounding Binance in the past few years. In addition to the aforementioned Chainalysis figures and CFTC investigation, Binance also appeared in everything-but-name in a report by the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) as an exchange known to ‘shop’ around different jurisdictions in order to avoid the more stringent requirements of the U.S. and find the least regulated market available.
The investigation will be welcomed by those pushing for a more honest industry.
As of 12:45 pm ET Sunday, the news related to Binance in the UK seems to have had little impact on Bitcoin trading.
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
