Crypto Exchange Binance Registers In Sweden – Voice of Nigeria
Sweden’s financial watchdog says it has registered crypto exchange Binance as a financial institution in the country.
The deputy head of the Financial Supervisory Authority’s banking department, Per Nordkvist, said the registration would allow Binance to launch a website in Swedish and otherwise market itself directly to consumers in the Nordic country, Reuters said.
Binance accounts for over half of the global crypto trading market. With its registration in Sweden, it has now received regulatory permits or approvals in 15 jurisdictions, including several EU states and Australia and New Zealand.
The core of the company’s business, the giant Binance.com exchange, processed over $22 trillion worth of trades last year.
Binance, which was founded by CEO Changpeng Zhao in Shanghai in 2017, has declined to disclose where the exchange is based.
Binance said in a statement shared Thursday by its CEO on Twitter that with the latest registration, Swedish residents can legally access services including crypto trading and the withdrawal and deposit of euros on the exchange.
But, Nordkvist said, the registration of the local entity, Binance Nordics AB, does not mean that the company is fully monitored by the watchdog.
Unlike licensed financial service providers, companies that are registered are obliged to provide the Swedish watchdog with information on anti-money laundering measures but little more.
“Binance continues to demonstrate its commitment to working closely with regulators to uphold global standards,” Binance’s head of Europe and MENA, Richard Teng, said in a blog post on Wednesday.
Reuters/Mercy Chukwudibere