Binance has stopped accepting new users in the UK following the country’s financial regulator’s – Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – newly launched crypto marketing rules.
The announcement, which was made via a blog post on the Binance website, confirms the move to stop new UK users signing up is in part to comply with the new FCA rules enacted on 8 October.
The blog statement read: “On 10 October, the FCA imposed legally-binding requirements on REBS, which meant that REBS was no longer able to approve financial promotions and with effect from 5pm on 11 October 2023 REBS had to withdraw any existing approvals of financial promotions on behalf of any crypto asset businesses (including Binance).
“Binance is currently looking for a new FCA authorised approver. However, there will be some temporary restrictions coming into effect on our platform during the period until Binance onboards with a new FCA authorised approver and has its financial promotions reapproved.”
The FCA introduced the new crypto marketing and promotions regulations to better protect customers from ‘risky’ campaigns in a response to the growing uncertainty and volatility the market has endured from several high-profile crashes last year.
However, crypto firms that have registered under the Money Laundering Regulations (MLR) act and have FCA clearance can submit an application for modification when it pertains to marketing and promotion regulations.
Companies who apply for modifications will be given until 8 January, 2024 to introduce “features that require greater technical development” but core rules will not be affected on the date of enforcement in October.
Binance had agreed to work with RebuildingSociety for its ads and campaigns to be approved before the new regulations were launched. Despite this, the FCA affirmed that the company was not authorised to clear Binance’s ads.
Existing Binance users in the UK will subsequently not be able to access new products and services during this interim period and will only be able to access regular functions once they complete a Investor Declaration and Appropriateness Test.
The crypto exchange has also implored users to read through the ‘Take 2 mins to learn more’ and ‘Different Cryptoasset Risks’ tabs to better protect themselves.
Binance continued: “We are working closely with the FCA to ensure that our users are not harmed by these developments and are looking to find another suitable FCA authorised firm to approve our financial promotions as soon as possible.
“If there are any queries, please reach out to our Customer Support team by clicking the ‘Support’ button at the top of the navigation bar and going to ‘Support Live Chat’.
