Binance, the world's biggest crypto-currency exchange, has been banned by the UK.
The UK's financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has ruled that the firm cannot conduct any "regulated activity" in the UK.
It also issued a consumer warning about Binance, advising people to be
wary of adverts promising high returns on cryptoasset investments.
The regulator also stressed that no entity in the Binance Group holds any form of authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity in the UK.
Binance, in response has said the FCA notice would have no "direct impact" on the services it provides from its website.
Binance's existing crypto exchange is not UK-based so despite the FCA
ruling, there will be no impact on British residents who use the website
to purchase and sell crypto-currencies.
The UK's FCA does not regulate crypto-currencies, but requires exchanges to register with them.
So since Binance has not registered with the FCA it is therefore is not allowed to operate an exchange in the UK.
Binance is an online centralised exchange that offers users a range of
financial products and services, including purchasing and trading a wide
range of digital currencies, as well as digital wallets, futures,
securities, savings accounts and even lending.
This is not the first time that Binance has come under scrutiny by regulators over its global operations.
In the US, one of the firm's entities - Binance Holdings - has been the
subject of a probe by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC),
specifically by its officials dealing with money laundering and tax
offences, according to Bloomberg.
The company is currently based in the Cayman Islands. It was previously based in Malta.
