https://decrypt.co/87647/crypto-exchange-binance-eyes-uk-finance-license-again
Crypto exchange Binance is again trying to gain a license in the UK under the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), according to The Sunday Telegraph.
This news comes after the exchange was categorically dismissed by the FCA earlier this year.
“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,” Changpeng Zhao, Binance CEO, reportedly said.
“We want to continue to establish a presence in the UK and serve UK users in a fully licensed and fully compliant manner,” he added.
If that were to ever happen, it would come in the form of Binance becoming registered as a crypto asset business under the UK’s money laundering regulations.
This is not the first time the industry's largest crypto exchange has tried to open the FCA’s doors, and last time it failed.
It’s been a turbulent year for Binance’s relationship with the FCA.
The relationship became strained in June when the FCA issued a consumer warning over Binance Markets Limited (BML)—the exchange’s UK entity which was set up to own and operate a would-be service to UK customers.
“Binance Markets Limited is not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK. This firm is part of a wider group (Binance Group),” the FCA said.
At the time, onlookers questioned whether or not the FCA’s decision was tantamount to a ban. UK customers could, however, still access Binance’s services via the exchange’s website.
Instead, the FCA published its warning “to protect consumers as much as we can.”
Speaking to Decrypt, an FCA spokesperson said the consumer warning was related to BML’s anti-money laundering standards.
“Putting two and two together, we obviously have issues with standards in that area,” the spokesperson said.
Things got worse for Binance in August, when the FCA said Binance Markets Limited was “not capable of being effectively supervised” after it failed to provide even basic information about its business.
“The FCA considers that the firm’s responses have been incomplete and have included direct refusals to provide information. These include failures to provide details about how the business and [Binance] Group are organized,” the FCA said.
Decrypt has asked Binance why the exchange believes this go-around with the FCA will end more favorably than the last.