Binance crypto exchange banned, Italian regulator says as crackdown intensifies

[ad_1]

By Tom Wilson, Anna Irrera

LONDON (Reuters) – The main cryptocurrency exchange Binance is not allowed to operate in Italy, the country’s market watchdog said on Thursday, joining a series of global regulatory actions against the platform .

FILE PHOTO: Binance’s logo can be seen on their exhibit booth at the Delta Summit, Malta’s official blockchain and digital innovation event promoting cryptocurrency, in St Julian’s, Malta October 4, 2018 . REUTERS / Darrin Zammit Lupi / File Photo

Binance group companies are not allowed to provide investment services and activities in Italy, even through the exchange’s main website which offers information in Italian on derivatives and tokenized versions of shares, said Consob here in a press release.

Savers are invited to exercise the greatest diligence in order to make their investment choices in full knowledge of the facts, by checking beforehand that the websites through which they make the investment can be attributed to authorized subjects, he clarified.

A Binance spokesperson said its website is not operating from Italy and the Consob notice has no direct impact on its services.

We take a collaborative approach in working with regulators and take our compliance obligations very seriously, he added.

With close scrutiny of the growing cryptocurrency industry across the globe amid concerns over consumer protection and the use of digital coins for money laundering and other criminal activity, authorities have turned their backs on concentrated in recent months on Binance.

The UK financial watchdog last month banned the platform – one of the world’s largest exchanges – from carrying out regulated activities in the UK.

Watchdogs in Thailand, Japan, Germany and the United States have also targeted Binance in recent months. BaFin, the German regulator, said in April that Binance was facing a fine for offering stock tokens without publishing a prospectus for investors.

In a letter to Binances lawyers seen by Reuters, Consob said it had the power to order internet providers in the country to stop offering their services to unauthorized investment service providers.

According to Italian law, the provision of investment services and activities without the prescribed authorization constitutes an illicit activity punishable under criminal law, the letter said.

The regulator can also order unauthorized investment service providers to stop offering their services, he said.

It is not known whether the Consob asked local internet companies to block Binances’ website, or whether it referred the case to the magistrates.

Binance declined to comment on the letter.

THE BIGGEST EXCHANGE IN THE WORLD

Binance was the world’s largest exchange last month in terms of spot trading volumes, data from UK researcher CryptoCompare showed, with trading volumes reaching $ 668 billion – a nearly ten-fold jump from July 2020.

The platform offers a wide range of services to users around the world, from spot trading of cryptocurrency and derivatives to digital wallets and stock tokens – digital versions of stocks indexed to the value of the relevant stock. .

The number of Binance users in Italy was not immediately clear. Yet his Italian-language channel on the Telegram messaging site has more than 25,500 members.

The company’s corporate structure is opaque, with its holding company largely registered in the Cayman Islands. Binance declined to comment on its location, saying it is decentralized and works with a number of regulated entities around the world.

Consobs’ move comes after its leader said last month that the spread of cryptocurrencies without any clear regulations was a cause for concern and could damage the functioning of the market.

Reporting by Tom Wilson and Anna Irrera. Additional reporting by Maria Pia Quaglia; edited by Jason Neely, Rachel Armstrong, Chizu Nomiyama and Steve Orlofsky

[ad_2]