Japan’s top financial market regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), has issued a warning against Binance as the cryptocurrency exchange continues to offer services in the country without authorization.
The warning issued on Friday said that Binance has been providing crypto exchange services in the country without registering with the FSA. A similar warning was served by the agency to crypto derivatives exchange Bybit last month.
For Binance too, this is the second warning by the Japanese financial market regulator. The crypto exchange giant received its first FSA warning in March 2018 when the regulator warned that the exchange would face criminal charges if it continues to operate without a license. That forced Binance to move its headquarters out of Japan to Malta.
Japan was one of the early jurisdictions to impose mandatory registration of cryptocurrency exchanges. And, the Coincheck hack in early 2018 has pushed the FSA to implement those rules with a firm hand.
After its exit from Japan, Binance tried to enter into a partnership deal with local exchange TaoTao, but those talks fell apart.
Though Binance did not publicly respond to the latest FSA warning, the exchange’s Japanese website is accessible even from IP addresses originating in Japan as well as the new user registration page.
Regulators Are after Binance
Binance has turned into a major crypto exchange with operations around the world. It has aggressively expanded its services over the years and now has a business presence from spot to derivatives trading and from crypto mining to lending.
Meanwhile, the crypto exchange is facing probes by European regulators for offering stock tokens trading and by the US regulator for accepting clients for derivatives trading. However, Binance always maintained its position of being a compliant company in all jurisdictions.
(Photo: Binance)
