According to recent reports, Barclays UK consumers may no longer transfer cash to Binance after the bank blocked credit and debit card transactions to the exchange indefinitely. The alleged suspension comes only two weeks after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom said that Binance Markets Limited, the firm’s UK operations, lacked appropriate license to conduct crypto activities in the nation.
What’s the Deal With Binance and the FCA?
“It’s our job to assist secure your money,” the Barclays UK Help Twitter page frequently responds to angry customers using copy-and-paste wording. With this in mind, we’ve decided to suspend credit/debit card payments to Binance until further notice in order to protect your funds.” For further information, the account also links viewers to the FCA webpage.
The FCA had recently ordered the exchange to cease crypto-regulated activities in the nation by June 30; while crypto-assets themselves are unregulated, related trading products such as futures and options are regulated in the UK.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a watchdog that is both a financial regulatory agency and an independent entity from the UK government. The FCA expressed wide worry about crypto exchanges in general as part of a bigger statement; the watchdog gave exchanges six weeks from the date of the public letter to remind consumers how their money is secured and to provide clear message that regulatory protection does not extend to them. As a result, several exchanges, including Coinbase and Uphold, have released press releases to their UK customers.
So, what’s next?
It’s impossible to predict Binance’s next actions in the UK and worldwide. The United Kingdom has joined a growing number of nations that have probed or investigated Binance, including the United States, Japan, Thailand, and Canada. The business’s offices have also moved around a lot before deciding to become a “decentralized” corporation with no corporate headquarters.
The FCA has only authorized five crypto businesses to far, and while Binance attempted to join that list within the last year, the company allegedly withdrew its application following “intense interaction” with the FCA. Binance has replied to the FCA, expressing dissatisfaction with the regulator’s decision, claiming that compliance and regulations remain a priority for the company, and pointing out that Binance and Binance Markets Limited are two different legal companies.
Traditional UK institutions may put more pressure on the global exchange, but it’s unclear what influence regulatory monitoring – both in the UK and elsewhere – would have on Binance’s larger activities in the long run.
