Binance Continues to Face a Barrage of Regulatory Setbacks Globally

In an almost synchronized onslaught, Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, is encountering a barrage of regulatory challenges across multiple countries, signalling a significant crackdown on the crypto industry.

This heavy-handed scrutiny comes as Binance.US and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, were hit with 13 charges by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including running an unregistered securities exchange and inflating trading volumes.

And while it has reached an agreement with the U.S. SEC to dismiss the previous temporary restraining order that aimed to freeze all Binance.US assets - which resulted in it shutting down dollar deposits and setting a June 13 deadline for its US customers to withdraw funds, the regulatory blows haven't stopped there.

Binance Markets Limited, its UK unit, has been delisted from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) register, leaving Binance without authorized entities in the UK. Investigations into illegal activities, such as client solicitation and money laundering, are also underway in France, and in Nigeria, Binance was declared an illegal entity by the Nigerian SEC and was ordered to halt its operations. Binance subsequently issued a cease and desist notice to the "Binance Nigeria Limited".

In response to this mounting pressure and the legal tightrope it has found itself on in several countries, Binance has decided to make some strategic moves. The crypto giant has revealed plans to exit counties like the Netherlands, Cyprus, Canada, and Australia reducing its regional operations from a tally of 100 countries.

And as the dance between regulatory authorities and the industry persists, the crypto world continues to watch closely. The question of whether Binance, which currently dominates the crypto space with more than half of the market share - 61.8% in February, is able to weather this storm, lingers in the mind of crypto enthusiasts.