After facing stern action from South Africa and Japan, the Binance crypto exchange was forced to cease its operations on the orders of the United Kingdom (UK) government.
According to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in its announcement, "Binance Markets Limited is not permitted to carry out any lawful activities in the UK."
The agency also warned against investing in crypto assets especially involving exchanges that are not certified by the FCA.
Arguably almost all exchange platforms in the UK are not registered under the FCA and if there are a handful of investors who are still stubborn, they may not be able to access the Financial Ombudsman Service or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in the event of something untoward.
However, Binance denies FCA's statement with a guarantee of no direct impact on the services offered on Binance.com in view of Binance Markets Ltd. is a separate legal entity and does not offer any products or services through the website.
At the same time, Binance has made an announcement to exit one of its major markets, Canada effectively on Friday, 12 noon local time. Its users in Ontario are given a period of time until the end of 2021 to close all active trades.
Perhaps the sudden decision was taken following the tight scrutiny of the securities supervisor, the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) on Kucoin in early June.
