The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) said that the Binance cryptocurrency exchange is not licensed and licensed to operate in the country.
According to media reports, the trading floor is registered in the Cayman Islands. However, CIMA said the exchange is not licensed to trade cryptocurrencies on these islands or within the British Overseas Territories. According to the department, Binance, Binance Group and Binance Holdings Limited are not under the control of CIMA. Therefore, the agency began to investigate whether these firms are carrying out any actions that may fall under the regulatory control of CIMA. At the same time, the Office did not present any charges to the exchange for possible violations.
A representative from Binance explained that the site has always worked in a decentralized manner, so it does not need to open offices in any countries. In addition, Binance is not operated from the Cayman Islands, as previously mistakenly reported in the media. A Binance spokesperson added that some of the legal entities associated with the exchange are registered under Cayman Islands law and conduct legal activities that are not related to cryptocurrency trading. Binance has declared its readiness to interact with regulators to resolve any issues that arise.
CIMA has emphasized that any company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and operating in or outside of the Cayman Islands must meet certain criteria. First of all, firms must be registered under the Virtual Asset Service Providers Act 2020 or regulated by CIMA. Local media reports that virtual asset service providers are required to register with the Authority by January 31 of this year.
In late June, the Japan Financial Services Agency (FSA) also announced that Binance was not licensed. In addition, the exchange was recently “attacked” by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which said that Binance could not provide some of the services in the country. Due to the claims of the regulator, the exchange was forced to disconnect from the popular payment system Faster Payments.
