Binance is in the news again over its activities in the United Kingdom, which largely stems from its row with the regulatory body in the country.
The digital currency exchange platform announced the launch of its new project, Bifinity, a payment firm, and Binance’s approved fiat-to-crypto payment system.
According to industry insiders, Bifinity may appear as a standard platform. Still, a closer look at it would reveal how the new project is a litmus test for Binance and the regulatory body struggling to control it.
Bifinity’s Purpose
Bifinity is structured to support a handful of cryptocurrencies, including global payment service providers Visa, and MasterCard, for payments. And to explore the Web 3.0 payment ecosystem, the crypto exchange also entered into a partnership with PaySafe, the UK-based digital payment platform.
According to the deal, PaySafe provides Bifinity with a systematic way of processing fiat-to-crypto payments and an enhanced financial solution to serve as the precursor to a digital wallet. Additionally, Binance and PaySafe reopen EUR and GBP deposits and withdrawals via the SEPA payment system.
However, the extent to which Binance is pushing its way into the fiat market is keeping the regulatory bodies on their toes.
U.K. Regulators Worried
Binance’s deal with PaySafe was the catalyst needed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the United Kingdom to be on edge. The FCA is worried about the exchange giant’s access to U.K. payment systems and data.
The watchdog believes that the partnership between the duo provides Binance with unrestricted access to national data and has limited powers to halt such business partnerships.
That said, should the deal between the trio of Binance, Bifinity, and PaySafe go ahead, it would turn out to be a remarkable victory for the exchange platform as it aims to spread its global dominance in the sphere of digital financial services.
The Other Factors
Amid the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, Binance is pushing its way into the payments market. In a period where world decision-makers and regulatory watchdogs are keeping close tabs on crypto exchange platforms more than ever before in the history of cryptocurrency. The calls for the exchange giant to impose a blanket ban on all Russian crypto users fell on deaf ears, and the pressure is still mounting on Binance. The irony here is that Binance more often prided itself on its compliance with regulatory agencies’ orders.
For its part, Coinbase, on its part, announced the blocking of more than 25,000 addresses belonging to Russian users or their collaborators and forwarded their details to the government for further action. As such, regulatory bodies are expecting Binance to tow the path of Coinbase and do the needful.
Binance may appear to be dragging its feet to see where the next action is coming from, especially as regards the financial sanctions flying around.
Failure to comply will prompt the watchdogs to take action against Binance and show their strength as mandated by the law of their jurisdiction.
