Binance Slams US Crypto Crackdown, Bids for UK Oversight

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Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said a crypto crackdown has made it very difficult to conduct business in the US, adding that it now hopes to be regulated in the UK.

Patrick Hillmann, the company’s chief strategy officer, told the Financial Times Crypto and Digital Assets Summit that the United States has been very confusing over the past six months. He pointed to the actions of the Securities and Exchange Commissions against rival exchange Coinbase over alleged violations of securities laws as a sign of how the United States currently finds itself in this strange place.

Contrary to his comments that it is now very difficult to do business in the US, Hillmann said Binance will do everything possible to be regulated in the UK.

Binance previously clashed with London regulators who declared the exchange unregulated after failing to provide basic information about its trading activity. The group has no fixed headquarters and offers its services worldwide.

In 2021 the Financial Conduct Authority ordered the company to halt all regulated activities in Britain, and last year a joint venture partner said the company had filed a grossly inaccurate annual report for one of its British subsidiaries.

Hillman declined to confirm whether the company had reapplied the FCA registration regime for crypto companies, which covers companies’ processes to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

Other groups have claimed that UK officials are too suspicious of fintech and crypto firms. This week, the head of payments firm Revolut blamed very cautious UK regulators for delays in obtaining his banking license.

Binance has been the target of US regulators who have cracked down on perceived illicit activity this year.

In March. the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed a lawsuit against the group, alleging that it operated illegally in the country and broke the law by soliciting American clients extensively. At the time, Binance called the CFTC complaint unexpected and disappointing.

The Department of Justice has also named Binance as a counterparty to Bitzlato, a crypto exchange whose founder has been accused of transmitting millions in illicit crypto funds in violation of US money laundering regulations.

Binances’ US subsidiary, Binance US, last month dropped a proposed $1 billion deal for assets owned by Voyager Digital, a crypto lender that went bankrupt last year.

Hillmann said the broader regulatory pivot we’ve seen in the US is different from Binances’ discussions with the CFTC. However, he downplayed the threat of US coercive actions on the company and the industry, saying: I think at some point the US will want to pivot and catch up with Europe, which is coming to overtake Mica [the EUs crypto asset regulation]which is a big step forward.

The EU legislation aims to provide a framework to regulate crypto assets in the block, thereby giving greater certainty to consumers and market participants.

Binance’s enforcement case is one of many brought by US regulators against some of the biggest companies in the crypto industry.

Among them, Nasdaq-listed Coinbase is under investigation by the SEC over a possible violation of securities laws. Crypto payments company Ripple is also embroiled in a long-running lawsuit filed by the SEC in 2020 alleging that it violated securities laws.

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