Binance.com Refusing To Turn Over User Information?

Binance is in the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately, but is the other side of the story not being told a story of a new age company refusing to give in to financial regulators?

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I think Binance is a bit of a love hate story for many users.

Love because the exchange in my experience has been easy to use, offers some of the lowest fees around, and has some of the best trading volumes on the planet.

Hate because CZ is a scum bag for helping JS attack this blockchain before it was known as HIVE, and because we're pretty sure Binance is in full control of most of the block producing nodes meaning the chain is not decentralized.

Love it or hate it, I think they're flying the crypto flag in the face of opposition at a time when crypto is seemingly coming under attack from all sides by regulators and central bankers.

Say what you want about the fact they're formerly headquartered in China and there could still be a chinese connection that puts user info at risk. There are efforts underway by financial regulators to force Binance to turn over user information and it appears the company is standing up for its customer base by flat out rejecting these demands.

Binance Banned in Ontario

The 47th G7 summit was just recently held on June 11th to 13th, and within a week we see Canada and the UK both attacking the world largest crypto exchange. Coincidence? I think not.

The motto for the recent G7 meeting: Building Back Better. Elected leaders from an alliance of 7 relatively powerful nations may have decided for you that their version of better doesn't include access to the world's largest crypto exchange.

Binance Banned in Ontario

Another blow for the people of Ontario! After suffering through a continued lock down that has shuttered small businesses for what's coming up on nearly 2 years for some areas of the province, we were just told we will no longer have access to Binance.

Ontario regulators have been going after exchanges before the recent G7 meetings, taking Coinbase to court with demands to turn over user info. However Coinbase fared well, and was only forced to turn over records for larger trading accounts.

Did Binance flat out refuse to turn over records?

My guess is Ontario went after them with a request for user info and Binance said no. With Binance not being headquartered anywhere I don't think Ontario is able to take them to court? There only Million peopl ehere so I think Binance just said fuck em and pulled access to thier exchange as a simple solution. VPN anyone?

Binance Banned in UK

And the bigger bomb to be dropped was news this weekend of Binance being "banned" from operating in the UK.

Turns out Binance had purchased a UK company with the intention of having a fully compliant operation there but something has changed. Before their operation could come online under their banner, UK regulators have said basically don't bother.

Regulators aren't telling the full story right now as far as I can tell. But I did see this tidbit which I think is the bread crumb trail:

Last month, Bloomberg reported that officials from the US Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service which probe money laundering and tax offences had sought information from individuals with insight into Binance’s business. aljazeera.com

2 plus 2 is still four

It looks like there's a global effort among first world countries to go after Binance in the name of AML. I guess it was inevitable? But I did not expect Binance to push back so much. Or are they even pushing back, maybe they're just continuing to do their thing.

Surely they saw this coming, and are attempting to walk the line right now. I think they're positioned themselves to stand firm, and keep that crypto flag flying high in the face of opposition. As much as I hate being told I can't use something, I'm happy they're not just rolling over and giving up user info to the feds. The war is on!