The UK financial regulator has conceded it is “not capable” of properly supervising Binance despite the “significant risk” posed by the cryptocurrency exchange’s products that allow consumers to take supercharged bets.
In a supervisory notice two months after starting a crackdown on the exchange, the Financial Conduct Authority — one of the most influential financial watchdogs in the world — repeated its grave concerns over Binance’s governance and products. But it added that Binance’s UK affiliate had “refused” to respond to some of its basic queries, leaving it with few avenues to oversee the sprawling group, which has no fixed headquarters yet offers its services around the world.
The statement underscores the scale of the challenge facing authorities in tackling potential risks to consumers buying often unregulated products through nimble cryptocurrency businesses that can often circumvent national bans by giving users access to facilities based overseas.