Japan’s Financial Services Agency (FSA) has issued another warning to crypto exchange Binance for operating in the country without proper authorization.
The most recent warning was issued Friday morning and stated that Binance has continued to provide cryptocurrency services as an exchange without properly registering with the FSA. This is the second such warning for Binance and is similar to the warning the FSA handed to Bybit in May. While the previous warning for Binance happened back in 2018, it did warn that continued operation could bring criminal charges to those involved. Binance’s response was merely to move their headquarters from Japan to Malta. Meanwhile, Binance maintains that they do not currently undertake in exchange operations in Japan nor do they target Japanese citizens. Despite that claim, Binance’s Japanese website and new user registration area are accessible from IP addresses within the country.
Japan was one of the first nations in the world to make it mandatory that cryptocurrency exchanges properly register with the FSA.
Binance under global scrutiny
While this is the second warning from the FSA to Binance about their alleged illegal operation, Binance is no stranger to such attention from authorities. In May, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced they were investigating Binance. The investigation came about after blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis, along with the DOJ and IRS, released the results of a study on Binance. The report showed that more funds tied to criminal activity passed through Binance than any other single exchange in the world.
This is a great cause for concern among investigators and officials as it is presumed much of that activity is to not only hide illegal transactions but also evade taxes. The illegal transactions in question are most likely illegal sales involving guns, drugs, or stolen property. Binance is also under fire by officials in the U.S. for allegedly accepting clients for derivatives trading.
European regulators have also been investigating Binance over a token launch earlier this year. Regulators are looking into whether the tokens complied with the rules related to transparency and corporate disclosures.
Additionally, Binance has come under fire in Hong Kong, Germany, and the United Kingdom for unlicensed or suspicious behavior. Binance maintains they have always complied with regulations of all jurisdictions in which it operates.
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