London misses out as Binance taps Paris as home of European HQ
Crypto exchange Binance plans to set up its European Headquarters in Paris after securing approval from local regulators.
The world’s largest crypto exchange yesterday revealed it has successfully registering an entity with the French market authority, attaining approval from an EU regulator for the first time. The move means London will miss out on being the centre of Binance’s operations in Europe.
“We don’t have a single global campus location like Google or Apple,” a spokesperson for Binance told Morning Wire.”Instead we expect to have multiple Headquarters.”
“France will be an HQ, as will Dubai,” the spokesperson said.
Until now Binance has operated without an official headquarters, a characteristic which has become a sticking point with financial regulators. Last year, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority issued a sharp-toothed warning about Binance, saying the exchange posed a significant risk to customers and could not be effectively supervised because it failed to disclose basic information about its operations.
Binance’s efforts to woo French regulators come after repeated warnings from UK politicians, including former Health Secretary Matt Hancock, that the UK risks falling behind competitors if it does not create a welcoming regulatory environment for digital assets.
Binance, which handles spot volumes of more than $14bn per day, plans to hire up to 250 people in France to focus on crypto and blockchain development.
Read more: Binance given green light for France operation with creation of 250 jobs