Following pressure from regulators on Binance’s UK partner Paysafe, Binance has been forced to suspend withdrawals and deposits for any new customers using British pounds as of Monday March 13th. Existing customers will have until May 22nd to transact their currency.  

Paysafe, which previously facilitated transactions between GBP and Binance’s crypto offerings, cut ties with the Caymans-based exchange. Paysafe cited a challenging crypto regulatory environment in the UK for ceasing their services, saying the decision was taken in an abundance of caution in a statement.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) previously raised concern about the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance on account that the firm is incapable of being properly supervised, according to the City watchdog.  

Binance was previously forced to cease trading by the FCA but continued to operate in partnership with FCA approved Paysafe as of February 2022, facilitated by FCA’s ability to cease Binance’s UK operations but not the use of its international app.

It is unclear at this time if the FCA put pressure on Paysafe to cease operations with Binance. The companies have since mutually agreed to implement a fair process to cease operations by May 22nd. Paysafe will also continue to operate and expand their operations in Europe and Latin America. 

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This comes on the backdrop of the UK government’s plan to regulate the crypto market which was introduced in February. The regulations included strengthening rules for crypto trading platforms like Binance, and providing more robust regulation of all crypto asset activities. As well as extend regulatory powers of the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority. 

The UK government also released a digital pound in order to maintain trust in a digitized financial system. The Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) would be a digital version of the pound for everyday use.