United Kingdom (UK) customers using the Binance Cryptocurrency Exchange have had their ability to make cash withdrawals suspended following the platform’s ban by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Monday.
Overnight, Binance disabled withdrawals for UK customers using bank cards after previously suspending the ability to make withdrawals directly into bank accounts.
The suspension of card withdrawals also follows a decision by the Faster Payments network, which rapidly processes money transfers, to suspend Binance payments on Monday night.
While the FCA’s ban does not prevent UK Binance customers from buying and selling crypto, as digital currencies are currently unregulated, the suspension of bank and card payments leaves them with few options to withdraw their crypto funds as fiat cash. The exchange will also be required from Wednesday to warn UK users on its website and app that it is not authorised to operate in the country, which is unlikely to increase new investors to join.
The payment suspensions came as the FCA said on Monday that Binance cannot conduct any “regulated activity” in the UK. The FCA has also issued a warning about its website, Binance.com, and adverts promising high returns on crypto-based investments. Britain’s action follows action by other regulators against the firm. Japan issued a warning to consumers three days ago over Binance, while authorities in the US and Germany had both expressed concerns recently.
The UK has also taken previous actions to bring the sector in line, with all UK-based crypto firms having to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing laws and register with the FCA in order to operate legally since January 10. Based in the Cayman Islands, Binance is the world’s largest crypto exchange, with around 1.5 Trillion USD worth of transactions processed each year. In early afternoon trading on Tuesday, Bitcoin was up 0.5% in the last 24 hours at US$34,940.
