The world’s largest exchange, Binance, has launched a new domain for United Kingdom users in compliance with the incoming financial promotions rules of the island nation.
This development was announced on October 6 via a blog post as Binance looks to maintain its services under the UK’s new financial marketing regime, which is set to commence on October 8.
Binance Shuffles UK Services, Partners With Authorized Promotion Agency
In June, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced an overhaul of marketing rules in regard to crypto assets.
According to the market regulator, these new rules are designed to ensure that all potential investors understand the risks that come with dealing with digital assets.
Under this new financial promotion regime, the FCA will look to stamp out misleading crypto advertisements or incentivizing promotional schemes such as the “refer a friend” bonus.
UK update https://t.co/7ET9J6KTj4
— CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance) October 6, 2023
According to Binance’s recent blog post, its new UK domain, www.binance.com/en-GB, will only provide access to products and services that are in compliance with the incoming marketing regulations.
These include fiat and crypto deposits and withdrawals, spot trading, margin trading, Binance pay, and crypto loans, among others.
On the same note, certain Binance services will now be inaccessible to UK users. These include the Binance gift cards, academy, research, and feed features, as well as referral bonuses.
Furthermore, Binance has also partnered with Rebuildingssociety.com Limited, an FCA-registered promotions firm that will approve all of the exchange’s marketing and promotional material.
Back in July, the FCA wrote an open letter to all crypto firms intending to operate under its new advertisement regime outlining the legal routes for communicating financial promotions to UK consumers.
Binance seems to have adopted one of these routes, which is promotions approved by an authorized person as recognized by the FCA handbook.
Other means of marketing under the UK’s new financial promotion regime include direct promotion by an authorized person or by crypto assets firms registered with the FCA.
Binance had initially filed a registration application with the FCA but later withdrew its request for unknown reasons.
European Regulator Issues Second Consultation Package Under MiCA
In other news on European regulations, preparations for the implementation of the Market in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations remain underway.
The latest development on this front reveals that the European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) has released the second consultation paper for MiCA as it seeks feedback from all members of the crypto industry on five aspects of the MiCA regulations.
These aspects include the sustainability criteria for distributed ledgers, trade transparency measures, and technical specifications for white papers, among others. Interested stakeholders are expected to submit their feedback on this consultation by 14 December 2023.
Meanwhile, the ESMA will issue a third and final consultation package on the MiCA regulations in Q1 2024 before drafting and submitting its final report based on all feedback received to the European Commission for approval before or on 30 June 2024.
Widely referred to as the first-ever comprehensive legislative framework for the crypto industry, the MiCA regulations are expected to be adopted by all member states of the European Union upon launch in 2024.
Total crypto market valued at $1.072 trillion on the hourly chart | Source: TOTAL chart on Tradingview.com