New Delhi: Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has been debarred from offering certain services in the United Kingdom (UK). Britain’s financial regulator, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), imposed the restrictions and ruled that the firm cannot conduct any “regulated activity” in the UK.
The FCA said in a statement, “Binance Markets Limited is not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK.”
“No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity in the UK,” the regulator added.
Binance has lately under global scrutiny for some of its suspicious activities. It is also under increased surveillance by regulators in other countries, including United States and Germany.
UK ban follows news that Japanese regulators warned Binance of consequences. The regulators said the platform may be operating in the country without proper authorization.
In Canada also, the crypto market regulators have increased oversight on Binance, thus restricting its operations.
The move against Binance comes close on heels of China’s crackdown on Bitcoin. The increasing crackdowns on crypto currencies has rattled crypto investors and caused prices to decline.
What Binance said on ban
However, Binance in a statement said that the FCA notice would have no “direct impact” on the services it provides from its website Binance.com.
Binance’s existing crypto exchange is not UK-based. So, despite FCA ruling, there will not hamper UK residents from using the website for sale & purchase of cryptocurrencies.