Binance is preparing to seek regulatory approval to operate in the UK, potentially returning to a market where the exchange has faced repeated setbacks.
The company is expected to apply to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for a cryptoasset licence when applications open next month, according to The Telegraph. The move comes ahead of a new regulatory regime that will require exchanges serving UK customers to meet stricter standards.
Under the new rules, which are due to take effect in October 2027, crypto companies will need a UK presence, sufficient financial and operational resources, and senior managers who meet the regulator's "fit and proper" requirements. Binance is expected to establish a UK-based board as part of its application, per the report.
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The exchange has made several unsuccessful attempts to enter the UK market. In 2021, the FCA ordered Binance's UK entity to stop carrying out activities, saying it could not be effectively supervised. Binance later continued serving customers from outside the country.
In 2023, the regulator also restricted the company's ability to promote its services in Britain through a local partner, effectively stopping it from taking on new UK customers.
Binance has also faced regulatory hurdles in the United States. In 2023, the company agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle US charges involving failures in its anti-money-laundering and sanctions controls. Its founder, Changpeng Zhao, was later sentenced to prison in the US.
In late June, Binance also announced that it would suspend or restrict services for certain EU customers after the exchange failed to secure a regulatory license under the new Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework.
More recently, a Reuters report claimed that Binance provided Russian authorities with transaction data on cryptocurrency donations to Ukrainian fundraising campaigns last year, information that was later used as evidence in a terrorism-financing case against a Russian IT specialist.