U.K’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has expressed concern over a recent move by the cryptocurrency exchange Binance that has given it access to the U.K. payments network, the Financial Times reported. The FCA had booted Binance out of the country in June last year for disobeying basic financial regulations, but the exchange has partnered with a payments company and regained access to sterling payments.
Binance was not authorized to offer any regulated services in the U.K.
Binance has been facing regulatory issues in different parts of the world since last year. After years of reckless flouting of financial laws, regulators globally cracked down on the crypto exchange. In the U.K., Binance had it even worse. As reported last year in June, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a consumer warning revealing that the local subsidiary of the exchange was operating illegally and was not authorized to offer any regulated services. Now the crypto exchange has partnered with payment firms to regain access to the payments market.
Binance has found a backdoor into the U.K. payments sector.
While Binance tried to sugarcoat the situation by issuing press releases that claimed it was in talks with the regulator, financial services providers were quick to act, halting their relationship with the crypto exchange. Barclays cut off ties with Binance and halted credit/debit card payments, and soon after, Europe’s largest bank HSBC did the same. Binance also suspended Euro deposits via the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) shortly after. It has now found a backdoor into the U.K. payments sector, partnering with London-based payments group Paysafe. The partnership allows Binance users in the U.K. to make sterling deposits via the Faster Payment Service.
