Tuesday, August 4, 2026

FLASH: UK bans Binance

Binance has garnered global scrutiny over the past couple of months.

• June 28, 2021
Binance
Binance

The United Kingdom’s financial regulatory body, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has said that Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platforms, can no longer carry out any regulated operations in the country, sending out warnings to consumers.

In a notice dated June 25, FCA said Binance Markets Ltd, Binance’s only regulated UK entity, “must not, without the prior written consent of the FCA, carry out any regulated activities… with immediate effect.”

The FCA has told Binance that by June 30 it must display a notice stating “BINANCE MARKETS LIMITED IS NOT PERMITTED TO UNDERTAKE ANY REGULATED ACTIVITY IN THE UK” on its website and social media channels.

It must also secure and preserve all records relating to UK consumers and inform the FCA this has been done by July 2.

Though trading of cryptocurrencies is not directly regulated in Britain, services such as trading in cryptocurrency requires authorisation by the FCA.

The FCA is carrying out its oversight powers over cryptocurrency trade as bodies and regulatory powers address concerns relating to its potential role in aiding money laundering and fraud.

In January, the FCA put out a requirement for all firms offering cryptocurrency-related services to register and show they comply with anti-money laundering rules. However earlier this month it said that only five firms had registered with it.

As of May 12, another 90 have temporary registration, allowing them to continue trading while their applications are assessed. The FCA noted that this status did not mean the registered bodies were “fit and proper.”

Binance has garnered global scrutiny over the past couple of months. In June, Japan said that the crypto trading platform was operating in the country illegally. This announcement was made on Japan’s Financial Services Agency website.

In May, Peoples Gazette reported that the trading platform came under investigation by officials from the U.S. Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service, who probe for money laundering and tax offences.

In April, Reuters reported that Germany’s financial regulator BaFin said the exchange risked being fined for offering digital tokens without an investor prospectus.

We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.

More from Peoples Gazette

farmers

Agriculture

FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology

The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Katsina State

Politics

Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku

“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Uba Sani of Kaduna State (Credit: Twitter)

Heading 2

Birnin Gwari: Kaduna is grateful to President Tinubu, says Uba Sani

President Bola Tinubu flagged off the 122-kilometre Kaduna-Birnin Gwari road project on Tuesday, in fulfilment of his campaign promise.

Central Bank of Nigeria Logo

Economy

Forex stable, $52.5 billion reserves signal recovery: CBN

Mr Cardoso attributed the improvement to disciplined monetary tightening, exchange rate reforms, and improved market transparency.

Isaac Herzog and Joseph Aoun

World

Israel, Lebanon begin fresh round of U.S.-brokered talks in Rome

The negotiations, scheduled to run until Thursday, come as Lebanon seeks a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from its southern region.

NEMA

NationWide

Flooding: NEMA activates emergency response centre

The centre will serve as the central operational hub for tracking flood developments and coordinating intelligence sharing among disaster management agencies.

Stock Market

Economy

Stock market reverses gains as investors lose N599 billion

The market breadth closed negative, recording 40 losers against 13 gainers.

Vessels along Strait of Hormuz (Photo credit: Benoit Tessier/File Photo/Reuters]

Heading 1

Strait of Hormuz: Iran says talks with Oman on vessel transit continue

Iranian authorities said the talks with Oman have been positive at both the technical and political levels as the two countries move close to reaching an agreement.