The Binance Saga.
I’m still a little unsure about what I’m going to do with this site, but I’ve done my homework, not to the best of my ability, but enough to get things started. Last night, I couldn’t sleep because I couldn’t figure out when the show would begin. The BBC website’s title reads, “FCA bans world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance,” which I saw on my phone. It was a catchy headline for the business section, given that a friend of mine in Uganda was introduced to the same platform in May 2021 for his newfound interest in cryptocurrency. I listened in and found everything to be true. Binance.com is a legitimate exchange.
So, why is there a prohibition today? Binance.com is a centralized online exchange that allows users to buy and sell a variety of digital currencies, as well as digital wallets, futures, stocks, savings accounts, and even loans. Binance Group is headquartered in the Cayman Islands, with Binance Markets Limited in London as an associate. Binance Group was originally located in Malta and has various companies all over the world. However, the company is not permitted to carry out any “regulated operations” in the United Kingdom. The FCA regulates cryptoassets, not cryptocurrencies.
It has been a known tatic for this companies to always switch their operations once the face regualtory challenges. On Saturday, Binance announced it was pulling out of two States after the Ontario Securities Excahnge Commision accused it and several other cyrpto trading platfors of failing to comply with province regulations.
Companies must be licensed by the authorities in order to advertise or sell such products in the UK. This means that UK residents are not permitted to use Binance’s services to speculate on whether the price of a crypto-currency like Bitcoin will rise or fall. However, crypto-currency specialist Colin Stone told the BBC World Service’s World Business Report that they are still able to use the website to buy and trade unregulated crypto-currencies.
Binance is no longer a cause of concern for me; nevertheless, citizens of my country who use it remain at risk. Well, every commercial endeavor includes some risk, but it must not be something extra or beyond of your control. The narrative of Binance is centered on the fact that some of its activities are unregulated. Every company has certain objectives for which it delivers a specific service or product. The regulatory authority must be notified whenever the firm offers a new product or service. If this is not done, the company’s taxation will be affected, as well as a host of other regulatory issues.
If Binance is being used in the UK for speculating on currency values, this is uncontrolled by the government, which is relevant to our situation in the UK. Supposedly, the site binance.co.ug may be used to speculate on the values of these unregulated currencies. This raises serious doubts regarding the CMA Act’s and the Capital Markets Authority’s efficiency in ensuring that such activities are regulated in Uganda. This does not only affect Uganda but other African countries using the same platform to curry out cryptocurrency trades.
We only hope that the increased taxation by African countries on their citizens as they ignore other sectors stops soon enough. That reminds me of the coming budget reading in Uganda and the various speculations about the yet to be instated laws of=n the internet and other new taxes to be introduces.
Cryptocurrencies are not regulated assets in Uganda you will participate in their trade at your own risk.
THE DAILY BILLS 