UK FCA Shares Concerns on Binance-Paysafe Deal

The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has shared its concerns about the recent partnership between Binance Exchange and Paysafe, a London-based multinational online payments company.

As reported by The Telegraph, Binance has informed its once-stranded retail customers in the UK that they can now make Pounds Sterling deposits through the Paysafe infrastructure.

Recalling that the FCA proscribed all of Binance’s activities in the UK last year, a move that kickstarted the trading platform’s regulatory woes amongst a slew of other watchdogs around the world. Following the ban on Binance’s trading activities, traditional banking institutions like Barclays PLC that once supported the platform halted their services, making it impossible for the exchange’s UK customers to transact. 

The partnership with Paysafe has changed the narrative, and the FCA said its “concerns about Binance remain”, according to a report by the Financial Times. 

“We received a notification of this business partnership but have limited powers to object to arrangements of this kind,” the FCA spokesperson said, adding that “Paysafe is aware of our concerns and is subject to close ongoing supervision consistent with our approach for firms of its size. We cannot comment further.”

Binance has often maintained that its goal is to work with regulators worldwide to become a regulated trading platform, even in the UK. While its applications for a license from the FCA are still ongoing, the trading platform has often reiterated its readiness to work with regulators, adding that it takes its compliance obligations very seriously.

Paysafe also came on the defence of Binance, and per The Telegraph’s report, the payments startup through a spokesman said:

"We take our regulatory obligations extremely seriously and comply with the highest industry standards. We have performed thorough due diligence on Binance to ensure that they also comply with these high standards, as we do with all merchant partners."

While the FCA’s concerns are noted, it is unclear whether any regulatory crackdown will be introduced in the near term to crack down on the partnership between both companies. 

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