Biden's Crypto Crackdown Makes Doing Business in the US 'Very Difficult', Says Binance

The Zhao Changpeng Exchange was recently threatened with a US trading ban. Credit: REUTERS/Benoît Tessier

Binance, the world's most popular cryptocurrency exchange, has criticized the Biden administration's crackdown on the industry and said it hopes to win regulatory approval in the UK.

Patrick Hillmann, the company's chief strategy officer, said it was «a very difficult time». «to do business in the US and that the situation has been «very confusing for the past six months».

Meanwhile, he said the company would do «everything possible» to get approval in the UK.< /p>

U.S. regulators have taken on crypto companies including Binance and Coinbase amid a market crash that saw FTX, one of the world's largest online exchanges, go bust.

Last month, Brian Armstrong, chief executive of Coinbase, proposed to transfer the company from the US to the UK, as an option.

Mr. Hillmann told the Financial Times Summit on Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets that there has been a broad “regulatory turn…” in the US and predicted that US authorities will have to reverse course if investment moves to Europe following the introduction of EU “mica”. a set of cryptocurrency rules.

“I expect the US will want to turn around at some point and catch up with Europe, which just passed Mica, which is a huge step forward,” he said.

Referring to the action taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which threatened to sue competitor Coinbase, Mr. Hillmann said the US is «in this strange position right now.»

< p>The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has sued Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, alleging that the exchange operates illegally in the country.

The company is also under investigation by the US Department of Justice.

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Binance is looking to restore its relationship with regulators in the UK after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned its subsidiary from operating in the UK.

Binance allows UK customers to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, but not regulated in Britain.

Recently, its payment partner pulled it out, saying the regulatory environment is «too complicated.»

The FCA has raised concerns about Binance's deal with Paysafe, the company's payment provider.

Binance was originally based in China, but moved its headquarters outside the country. She had a holding company in the Cayman Islands but refused to state where her headquarters were located, drawing criticism from regulators.