The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) has issued a warning that the Binance cryptocurrency exchange operates in the country without a license and does not have regulatory approval to operate in Japan.
The Agency made this statement in order to protect investors and traders. The FSA issued a similar warning about Binance back in March 2018. However, then the CEO of Binance Changpeng Zhao explained that the marketplace had a “constructive dialogue” with the regulator on this issue. As for the new statement from the regulator, a Binance spokesman said that the exchange does not conduct transactions with cryptocurrencies in Japan and does not attract local users.
In addition, due to political considerations, the exchange does not comment on issues related to interaction with regulatory bodies. A Binance spokesperson added that the exchange takes regulatory compliance across jurisdictions seriously. Binance is working hard to eliminate any regulatory risk. In April, the exchange hired former OCC director Brian Brooks as CEO of Binance’s US division.
At the same time, it is unclear how the FSA’s statement will affect the activities of Binance, and whether the department is going to present further claims to the exchange. This is not the first time that the exchange has been mentioned in the warnings of regulators. So, last year, the Malaysian Securities Commission (SC) also reported that the exchange operates in the country illegally and is not controlled by local regulators. Zhao previously said that his exchange does not have an office in any country, since it operates in a decentralized manner.
Recall that in the spring, the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) began to investigate the activities of the trading platform. The CFTC suspects Binance of allowing US citizens to trade cryptocurrency derivatives, thereby violating the law. It is possible that, together, all these factors affect the reputation of the exchange. This month, Silvergate, a usually crypto-friendly bank, stopped serving Binance without giving a reason.
