The regulatory troubles of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, are not over yet in 2021. According to a Reuters report, the Turkish subsidiary of Binance, BN Teknologi, has been slammed with an 8 million lira (about $751,314) fine by the country’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK).
While details are still sketchy it appears that the Binance local unit failed to comply with the new laws of Turkey that require crypto-exchanges to track user information for taxation purposes. Reuters reports that the fine was imposed after liability inspections from MASAK exposed violations of Turkey’s crypto assets laws. The fine on the Binance subsidiary is the first of its kind on any cryptocurrency exchange in Turkey since MASAK was set up to have oversight over the crypto market in the country according to Anadolu Agency who first reported the event.
Binance and its turbulent run with crypto-regulators
Being one of the longest-standing and biggest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance has seen its fair share of regulatory scrutiny. Binance was founded in China in 2017, but had to relocate to Japan in the same year following China’s toughening its stance on the crypto-industry.
While it has continued to be dogged by regulators through the years, 2021 put the exchange through the grinder. Binance saw various actions taken against it by several regulators, ranging from orders to shut down its operations to ones that restricted its offering of certain services.
Countries that have gone after the prominent exchange have included the US, UK, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Malta, Singapore, Japan, among others. Binance’s response to the clampdowns has largely been positive as they seem to have bounced back from the troubles. Indicative of this is the fact that the exchange has revealed plans to establish key offices around the world to better relate with regulators.
Binance has also been on a drive to boost its ability to relate with regulators by hiring personnel with experience in regulatory compliance. The move seems to be paying dividends as according to Binance’s founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, the exchange has plans to resume its operations in the UK soon.
Other cryptocurrency exchanges have also faced regulatory troubles in 2021
Regulatory scrutiny has not been peculiar to only Binance in 2021. Coinbase also faced its share of regulatory attention from regulators when the SEC threatened to take legal steps against it if it proceeded with its plans to introduce a lending platform.
The threat, which was considered to be unwarranted by Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, caused quite a stir in the crypto-industry as market participants renewed their calls for clearer crypto regulations. China was also a source of pain for cryptocurrency exchanges in 2021. China effectively declared crypto illegal leading to the shutting down or permanent relocation of a lot of crypto exchanges from the country.
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