The world’s largest crypto exchange announced on Monday that it had received a license in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, to provide exchange and broker-dealer services for institutional clients and “qualified retail investors.”
Binance FZE, the name of the exchange’s Dubai subsidiary, had previously received a provisional license from Dubai’s Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority in March 2022. It’s the second firm, after the Middle Eastern exchange BitOasis, to reach the third of four steps to secure complete approval for a full market license for broker-dealer services from the Dubai regulator and the first to receive approval for exchange services.
“This is probably one of the most demanding processes we’ve gone through, but it’s good that the collaboration is there,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said during a Twitter Spaces on Monday. “Different parts of the world are moving at different speeds, but Dubai is definitely leading the forefront.”
The new license from the UAE comes on the heels of a series of departures from unfriendly locales for the exchange amid regulatory troubles in the U.S. and Europe.
In March, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued Binance in federal court, alleging, among other claims, that the exchange deliberately offered services to U.S. customers that weren’t available in its American branch, known as Binance.US.
Then, in June, the Securities and Exchange Commission waded into the fray and dropped a bombshell 136-page lawsuit on the exchange and Zhao. “Through thirteen charges, we allege that Zhao and Binance entities engaged in an extensive web of deception, conflicts of interest, lack of disclosure, and calculated evasion of the law,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.
Following the lawsuit, and amid rumors of a criminal investigation from the Justice Department into Binance and Zhao, the exchange has fallen into comparative disarray. Top executives have quit over Zhao’s response to the Justice Department investigation, the company reportedly has laid off more than 1,000 employees, and the firm has pulled back from at least the Netherlands, Germany, and Cyprus.
In addition to U.S. investigations and litigation, Binance also faces legal troubles in Canada, France, and Australia.