Here's What is Happening to Binance in the United Kingdom

One of the world's most prominent platforms for cryptocurrency trading has received an order from British regulators to stop operations in the United Kingdom immediately; however, the company has clarified its corporate status for the purpose of letting clients know that they will not be affected by this situation.

Binance Markets and the Binance Group are the business entities that the Financial Conduct Authority have ordered to stop operating because they lack required licensing. It should be noted that the FCA is not a regulatory agency in charge of cryptocurrencies as such; its focus is on derivatives and other financial instruments that some exchange platforms have been offering to digital currency investors and speculators over the last few years.

Not long after the FCA posted its notice regarding Binance on Twitter, the company posted an update explaining that Binance Markets does not offer products or services through the popular Binance.com website. At the same time, the platform urged customers to refrain from closing down existing positions.

While it is very likely that Binance is operating as a brand in the U.K., this development does not look good for the company. Just a few days ago, Binance reminded Canadian customers in the Ontario province that they will need to close their market positions and accounts by the end of the year. Provincial regulators in Ontario have been more strict compared to others in Canada, and their compliance requirements put Binance in a complicated situation. Now that Ontario is a restricted jurisdiction for Binance, the company will be losing access to the lucrative Toronto market, although business may still be able to be conducted in other Canadian provinces.

One of the problems faced by Binance and many other cryptocurrency trading platforms is that the trading instruments they offer are becoming similar to market securities. For this reason, investment banking firms have been pushing for exchange-traded funds to be approved on major financial exchanges such as Wall Street, and two Bitcoin ETFs are now trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission has been evaluating such applications, but they are unlikely to be approved this year.