Binance Suspends New User Registrations in the UK

Crypto giant Binance announced that it would suspend new user registrations in the UK as of 5 p.m. local time on October 16 to align itself with the country's "stringent financial promotions rules" that took effect on the 8th of this month.

The latest crypto regulations introduced by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) include strict marketing guidelines that explicitly prohibit firms from engaging UK audiences unless registered with the FCA as a cryptoasset firm. To this end, Binance has reached a cooperation Rebuildingsociety.com Limited, an FCA-regulated entity and authorised 'S21 approver' for crypto marketing and communications materials.

Unfortunately, last Tuesday, two days after the introduction of the new rules, the FCA imposed restrictions on rebuildingsociety.com Ltd​ to restrict its approval of cryptoasset financial promotions. As a result, Binance's effort in UK had to be ceased.

In the announcement, the crypto exchange stated: "Binance is currently looking for a new FCA authorised approver. However, there will be some temporary restrictions coming into effect on our Platform (i.e. www.binance.com/en-GB and latest version of our Mobile App) during the period until Binance onboards with a new FCA authorised approver and has its financial promotions reapproved."

However, Binance also said that its existing UK users can still access their accounts remains uninterrupted, but they are unable to avail themselves of new products or services until the situation is rectified.

The effectiveness of the new crypto promotion rules in the UK may have a profound impact on the crypto landscape in UK and even the worldwide. On the first day of the new regime, the FCA had issued 100+ alerts against crypto service providers​, saying that these companies were operating without registration. Several leading global crypto exchanges such as HTX (formerly Huobi) and Kucoin were added to the regulator's warning list.