[NEWS] Dubai's cryptocurrency regulator steps up scrutiny of Binance and others - reports

It has been revealed that Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) is requesting additional information from license applicants. Bloomberg reported on the 5th.

The background to this is the existence of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which collapsed last year, and the authorities are said to be strengthening their scrutiny of license applicants.

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance is no exception, and three sources said they are requesting it to provide a lot of information about its ownership structure, governance, and audit procedures.

In addition, the sources said VARA is also requesting information about ownership, audits, board procedures, etc. at Binance's global group level. However, Binance's corporate scale continues to expand and its corporate structure is becoming more complex, so it seems that it is taking time to respond to the authorities.

According to the report, a Binance representative responded to Bloomberg, "We have proactively disclosed all the necessary answers to VARA."

After FTX's collapse, Binance has also come under increasing pressure. Late last month, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a lawsuit against Binance and its CEO CZ (Changpeng Zhao) for allegedly violating derivatives regulations. Binance called the lawsuit "unexpected" and said it was "disappointed" after cooperating with the CFTC for several years.

Dubai has been working to attract cryptocurrency-related companies since last year, and has been focusing on Dubai as a key strategic area with an eye on expanding its business in the Middle East.

Binance is known for not having a headquarters, but it has been pointed out that it may base itself in Dubai along with several other cities. For this reason, it can be said that it was unexpected that it would halt in this way.

According to Bloomberg, Binance initially planned to provide cryptocurrency exchange services in the Middle East through an entity called "Binance FZE". However, the launch of Binance FZE has been postponed due to operational reasons.

Reference:Bloomberg
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