Leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance revealed today that it is set to launch Binance US, a United States focused subsidiary that will primarily come under the oversight of new partners, BAM Trading.
Although the announcement did not include a timeline regarding when Binance US will go live, the exchange’s CEO, Changpeng Zhao reportedly said,
“We are excited to finally launch Binance US and bring the security, speed, and liquidity of Binance.com to North America. Binance US will be led by our local partner BAM and will serve the U.S. market in full regulatory compliance.”
Interestingly, the information available on the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) website shows that Binance’s new business is registered with the regulators’ as a money services business, identifying BAM Trading Services, Inc, as the legal name of the company that would do business with the name Binance US.
But that is not all there is to Binance’s impending launch in the U.S.
To be clear, the exchange’s website is accessible to the U.S audience, which represents Binance’s highest visitors according to data from Alexa.
However, a common notion in the cryptocurrency industry is the Binance’s decision to operate from Malta allows the exchange to have nothing much to do with regards to regulatory compliance given the European country’s crypto-friendly stance.
For instance, Ted Livingston, Founder of Canada-based startup Kik, whose company is now under fire from the U.S SEC told Coindesk last month,
“You have companies like Binance, who look at what Coinbase does and say, ‘We’ll do that, but we’ll do it everywhere but the U.S.’ – and now Binance has replaced Coinbase as the top exchange in the world.”
While there is a lot of truth in what the Kik CEO said, it appears that Binance doesn’t look fazed by the daunting task of satisfying regulators in the U.S.
Yes. It would require a lot of efforts with some exchanges recently forced to delist some tokens fearing legal actions by U.S regulators for selling securities. Even Binance has an idea of what its impending U.S debut means since the exchange recently geo-blocked U.S users from its decentralized platform.
So, it is a matter of understanding the implications but choosing to go where the competition is highest, even though everyone thinks you can’t.
