Binance is not Banned in the UK, says CZ

The CEO of Binance exchange, Changpeng Zhao, has recently said that the crypto exchange is not banned in the United Kingdom.

Binance CEO @cz_binance responds to @Nouriel Roubini’s attack pic.twitter.com/xIHYZMZ8Ez

— CNBC Middle East (@CNBCMiddleEast) November 17, 2022

Nevertheless, the FCA (financial conduct authority) ordered the exchange to cease all regulated operations in the UK in June 2022. This is largely based on the fact that the crypto industry is an easy target for fraudsters and money launderers. Also, they have a lax consumer protection policy.

However, this does not mean that the exchange is now banned in the country because, even though it’s unlicensed or unregulated, it is still legal. Cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency trading are still legal in the country.

The exchange, however, has been accused by lawmakers in the country of staging the crash of its rival FTX exchange and its sister platform, Alameda Research.

Binance debunked the accusation and presented facts on the popular crypto news platform CoinDesk in a five-page document highlighting in sequence the events that led to the crash.

The platform sent this document to the Parliamentary Treasury Committee before an upcoming hearing. The catalyst that sped up the process was that the lion’s share of the assets on Alameda were FTX tokens; therefore, the crash resulted from the mishandling of funds and alleged fraud.

The committee held the hearing on Monday, November 15, involving top officials of the exchange, who were asked if CZ, the exchange CEO, staged the FTX collapse. Daniel Tinder, the platform’s vice president for governmental affairs in Europe, was among those in attendance at the hearing.

The committee asked him if the exchange knew that liquidating their FTX token would significantly affect FTX and if backing out of the deal to acquire FTX could ruin it.

Harriet Baldwin, a committee member at the hearing, believed that Binance staged the whole event to wipe out its primary competitor because the platform must have weighed the decision and discovered that it would likely lead to its bankruptcy and crash.

The reason for having this belief is not far-fetched because, on November 18, Binance CEO, CZ, called SBF a psychopath for allegedly leaking information about his children, which could, in effect, put them in danger. 

This could quickly lead to the thought that it was a personal vendetta against SBF and his crypto empire, coupled with the fact that leaving the exchange to crash is one less rival to worry about.

Another committee member Alisson Thewliss also shared the same sentiments with Harriet; when asked in an interview if she was satisfied with the platform’s evidence and presentations, she said no.

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