With an eye on Brexit, Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange Binance has launched Binance Jersey to offer European and UK based fiat-to-cryptocurrency trading for the Euro (EUR) and British Pound (GBP).
Binance.je will trade Bitcoin and Ethereum and the exchange believes the island, a British Crown dependency located close to the coast of France, will be a driving force for wider cryptocurrency use in Europe. “Jersey has in place an existing legal and regulatory framework for cryptocurrency into which Binance Jersey easily fits,” said Wei Zhou, Binance CFO.
“Expanding the cryptocurrency exchange markets with fiat currencies in the European region is opening new economic opportunities for Europeans as well as freedom from looming Brexit uncertainty where the pound and euro are also in concern,” added Zhou.
“Through Binance Jersey, we want to help bridge the crypto-fiat channel for Europe and the UK as part of our global expansion to support broader cryptocurrency adoption,” Zhou added.
Binance, said to be the world’s largest crypto exchange by traded value is not the only digital asset business taking measures to capitalize on uncertainty in the UK surrounding Brexit. San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase expanded with a new Dublin office in October that it says will “complement” its operations in London.
Binance founder, Changpeng Zhao, who Forbes magazine called – in a “Zero to Billionaire” cover story – a “crypto overlord” claimed, in a typically quick-fire 16th January tweet, that the exchange was already overwhelmed with registrations. “There is a backlog of KYC [know your customer] verifications already. More resources are allocated to reduce it. In the mean time, we appreciate your understanding and patience. The registration prize is FIFO [First-In, First-Out] based, no worries. Just crazy!”.
Binance has been pushing its exchange offerings across the globe, in spite of the bear run of 2018 that has continued into January. Chinese-born but Canadian-educated Zhao – or “CZ” as he prefers to be known – started commercial life in Shanghai and has since moved his exchange to Tokyo then Hong Kong, before being officially based on the tiny, but crypto-friendly, Mediterranean island of Malta. ATIMES
