Key Points
- Binance gets a full Dubai permit after CZ cedes voting control of the local unit.
- A full VASP permit means a rare regulatory win for the exchange.
Binance has just marked a significant win, as the exchange received a full crypto license in Dubai after the co-founder Changpeng Zhao agreed to cede voting control in the local entity, according to the latest reports from Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter.
Binance got a Virtual Asset Service Provider permit in the emirate and this has been reportedly confirmed to Bloomberg by Chief Executive Officer Richard Teng today.
Binance is getting close to its longstanding goal of a full Dubai license. But first its billionaire founder had to give up voting control of the local unit https://t.co/2Ll8bs7g3c
— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) April 18, 2024
The license means an enormous win for the crypto exchange, which has been in the middle of more regulatory hits over the past couple of years. The issues culminated back in November 2023 with the agreement to pay $4.3 billion in US penalties.
Back then, CZ was forced to resign as CEO as part of the deal, and he is expected to be sentenced sometime this month after pleading guilty to anti-money laundering and sanctions charges, Bloomberg reports.
Binance FZE is the local unit in Dubai and has held Operational MVP licenses for broker-dealer and exchange services since the middle of 2023, according to the Virtual Assets Regulatory’s register.
Full VASP license required CZ ceding voting control of local unit
Operational MVP is an interim stage before the full VASP license. One of the final steps VARA required before granting a VASP license was CZ ceding voting control of the Dubai entity called Binance FZE, according to people familiar with this matter, cited by the important publication mentioned above.
According to the reports, officials wanted to make sure that Dubai did not diverge from the agreement Binance reached with the US authorities under which CZ was forced to relinquish his CEO position.
Following the resuming of issues regarding the voting control held by Zhao, Binance, and VARA completed a comprehensive review of the products the exchange offers in Dubai.
The new Binance CEO, Teng pledged to enhance compliance and relations with the regulators all over the world.
Earlier today, Binance made an important announcement. The exchange revealed the conversion of the entire pool of assets that is held in the emergency fund for users SAFU into USDC. This is the stablecoin issued by the US from Circle Internet Financial.
The move is set to bring more reliability and stability at $1 billion.
