Bad news for U.S. citizens trading on Binance. They have less than 90 days before their trading functionality is disabled. But CZ has a plan. ‘Binance America’ is coming.
Less Than 90 Days to Cease Trading on Binance
On June 14, the world’s most popular exchange updated its Terms of Use. Unfortunately for U.S. citizens, that means:
Binance is unable to provide services to any U.S. person. Binance maintains the right to select its markets and jurisdictions to operate and may restrict or deny the Services in certain countries at its discretion.
If that wasn’t clear enough, the company made a further update about an hour ago that said as part of its continuing compliance efforts:
After 90 days, effective on 2019/09/12, users who are not in accordance with Binance’s Terms of Use will continue to have access to their wallets and funds, but will no longer be able to trade or deposit on Binance.com.
But Binance America Is Coming
Thanks to draconian laws, U.S. citizens get a raw deal when it comes to trading cryptocurrencies. However, those left feeling deflated over the latest news have some cause for celebration, Binance.US is coming soon.
Just moments after, the company officially announced its partnership with BAM Trading Services Inc. in order to offer trading services in the U.S.
#Binance Announces Partnership with @BAM_Trading to Launch US Exchange (@BinanceAmerica)https://t.co/F6uQE6aUsA
— Binance (@binance) June 14, 2019
How will the exchange boldly go where no man (except for the likes of Huobi, and Bitflyer) has gone before? Succeed where others failed? Well, because it’s Binance and this company is going to take over the world.
By teaming up with BAM, the exchange will be able to effectively license out its technologies to its U.S. partner who is fully regulated with FinCEN approval. Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said:
We are excited to finally launch Binance.US and bring the security, speed, and liquidity of Binance.com to North America… Binance.US will be led by our local partner BAM and will serve the U.S. market in full regulatory compliance.
This statement was also confirmed in a brief post on the BAM blog:
BAM Trading Services is thrilled to announce a partnership with global leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance to launch Binance.US.
However, no specific details as yet. U.S. traders will have to “stay tuned” for more updates on Binance America.
BNB Token Not Happy About the News
Binance Coin (BNB) [coin_price coin=binance-coin] fell by 5.27% upon the updated T&C and partnership news and is currently trading at around $33.78 USD, showing that not everyone is happy about the road ahead.
Though perhaps Binance.US may just be a move to buy the company time to get U.S. regulators off its back while its DEX grows. At which point, it will move them all over to the decentralized platform, which cannot, in theory, geo-block them.
Of course, that’s purely speculation at this point since none of us are privy to the inner tactics of the Binance team. Moreover, even if U.S. traders did opt for the DEX, that won’t exempt them from regulation. KYC will pretty much kill that plan.
Whichever way the company decides to move forward, if CZ & Co. can pull off penetrating the U.S. fortress, it could set a precedent for other exchanges, opening the gateway to this major market. One in which the likes of Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and Bakkt are all entering as well.
Will Binance America succeed in entering the U.S. market? Add your thoughts below!
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