Cayman Islands Authorities to Investigate Binance, Fresh Trouble or Another FUD?

The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) is currently investigating Binance after reports of the world’s largest exchange operating in the country without a license surfaced. The Cayman Islands is considered to be crypto heaven and has acted as an alternate headquarters for many crypto exchanges who face trouble in their native country of origin. Until 2017, Binance had hinted that they are operational headquarters is located in a small island country.

The official statement from CIMA clears that neither Binance nor any of its associate companies are authorized to offer their service in the country.

“The Authority is currently investigating whether Binance, the Binance Group, Binance Holdings Limited or any other company affiliated with this group of companies has any activities operating in or from within the Cayman Islands which may fall within the scope of the Authority’s regulatory oversight.”

An early trademark document suggests Binance was registered in the Cayman islands in 2017.

One of the spokespeople for Binance said,

“Binance.com has always operated in a decentralized manner. Binance.com does not run a cryptocurrency exchange out of the Cayman Islands, as reported incorrectly in some media articles previously. We do, however, have entities incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands performing activities that are permitted by law and not related to operating crypto-exchange trading activities. “

Binance’s Struggle With a Physical Headquarter Continues

Binance started its journey from Shanghai, China, but right before the 2017 crackdown, it shifted to Japan. Its stay in Japan was short-lived as well as it suffered a major attack on its platform. Later the Binance website claimed it was headquartered in Malta, but certain reports called it a ghost exchange, and later the authorities in Malta also revealed Binance is not registered in the country.

Documents show that Binance is indeed registered in George Town, the Cayman Islands in 2017 and later used the address for trademark filings.

The exchange also registered itself in Mahe, Seychelles, in 2019 after the Cayman Islands was blacklisted by the EU which would have caused hurdles in Binance’s service offering in Europe.

Binance at the Center of Fresh Regulatory Trouble or Another FUD?

Binance has been at the receiving end of regulators from around the globe over the past couple of months. The most recent came from the UK where the FCA, the country’s top watchdog issued a compliance warning to the largest crypto exchange. While many familiar with the matter claimed it as a routine task, most of the mainstream media reported it as an end of the road for exchange in the UK. However, the exchange resumed its normal operations and even resume fiat deposits and withdraws just a day after it was suspended.

Earlier today, the Singapore monetary authority also indicated it will follow up with the crypto exchange amid growing regulatory concerns. The world’s largest crypto exchange has maintained that they are truly decentralized and thus don’t have any physical headquarters.

Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance made a cryptic tweet yesterday hinting at the recent FUD around its UK operations.

Lots of FUD; Lots of problems to solve; Lots of opportunity.

— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) July 1, 2021

About Author

An engineering graduate, Prashant focuses on UK and Indian markets. As a crypto-journalist, his interests lie in blockchain technology adoption across emerging economies.

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