Binance not authorized to operate Crypto Exchange in Cayman

(CMR) Cayman Islands has joined a list of countries, including the United Kingdom, that have gone after cryptocurrency company Binance in recent weeks. The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) published a notice on its website last Thursday stating that Binance is not authorized to operate a crypto exchange in the country.

The notice states: “The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (the “Authority”) wishes to inform the public that Binance, the Binance Group and Binance Holdings Limited are not registered, licensed, regulated or otherwise authorised by the Authority to operate a crypto-currency exchange from or within the Cayman Islands.”

CIMA emphasized that “any company incorporated under the Cayman Islands Companies Act, 2020 or otherwise established or registered in the Cayman Islands that provides virtual asset services or custodian services as a business or in the course of business, in or from within the Islands must either be: (i) registered or licensed in accordance with the Virtual Asset (Service Providers) Act, 2020 (“VASPA”); or (ii) an existing regulated entity that has been granted a waiver by the Authority under the VASPA.”

According to Bitcoin.com, a growing number of regulators worldwide have gone after Binance. Recently, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a criminal complaint against the crypto exchange, joining authorities in the Cayman Islands, the UK, and Japan  that issued similar warnings on Binance and related companies.

Bitcoin.com said, the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday that it “has filed a criminal complaint against Binance … with the Economic Crime Suppression Division of the Royal Thai Police (ECD).

The SEC said that Binance is operating a crypto exchange business without a license. The company is therefore “liable to criminal sanction under Section 66 of the Digital Asset Businesses Emergency Decree, i.e., imprisonment for a term of two to five years and a fine of 200,000 to 500,000 baht and a further daily fine not exceeding 10,000 baht for every day during which the contravention continues.”