Visa and Mastercard will not abandon cooperation with the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, despite heightened regulatory scrutiny. This, reports Financial Times.
Visa representatives said they were aware of the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s recent statement regarding Binance and are in ongoing dialogue with the exchange to monitor developments.
Mastercard noted that they are watching the situation, including how the exchange complies with regulatory requirements.
Neither company plans to ban customers, including those in the United Kingdom, from using their cards to buy cryptocurrencies on Binance.
Earlier, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority barred Binance Markets Limited from any regulated activity in the country without prior written approval. The exchange said that the entity did not provide services on the binance.com domain.
Following this, British banks Barclays and Santander barred customers from transferring funds to Binance. The payments processor Clear Junction also refused to process payments related to the exchange.
Investigations into Binance’s operations began in the Cayman Islands, in Thailand it was accused of operating without a license, in Japan another warning was issued, and the regulator Poland urged caution in using the exchange’s services.
Earlier, Binance announced it would stop serving residents of the Canadian province of Ontario and suspended euro deposits via SEPA.
After a series of statements by supervisory authorities, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, in an open letter, outlined the company’s plans to ensure compliance and protect customers.
He stressed that the exchange takes its ‘legal obligations’ seriously and has already ‘conducted several external audits on anti-money laundering’.
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