Binance New Zealand continues search for a local bank to take its business on

Binance New Zealand, the local arm of the world’s largest centralised digital asset exchange, says all its 260,000 registered users to date are resident in NZ.

Binance NZ launched last October following registration on the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment (MBIE) overseen financial service providers' register (FSPR). This FSPR registration, which does not in itself mean regulation by a NZ regulator, enables Binance NZ to offer its services to customers in both NZ and overseas. (There's more about Binance's FSPR registration here).

In comments to interest.co.nz attributed to Ben Rose, Binance's Regional General Manager for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Binance NZ says it has 260,000 registrations across the country, and all Binance NZ users are resident in NZ.

Rose, who describes himself on LinkedIn as "a growth-focused sales and marketing executive," says the most popular activity among Binance NZ users is spot trading, converting crypto to crypto.

"The most popular coins Kiwis have traded over the last seven days, as at 31 March 2023, are Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC, XRP and Conflux," Rose says.

To date Binance NZ has been unable to find a local bank prepared to bank its business. For Binance NZ customers Rose says this means they're not able to use the Binance NZ platform to buy crypto direct from their bank account, or to sell crypto direct into their account.

"Users wishing to buy and sell crypto into [the] NZ dollar must do so via their credit and/or debit cards," Rose says.

"Binance NZ remains in ongoing contact with a number of local banks to understand if and when their appetite may change. Binance NZ is also in dialogue with regulators around this challenge faced by many in the Web3 industry."

Last week the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) launched civil enforcement action against the Binance group. The CFTC accuses Binance of willful evasion of US federal law and operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange, or running a calculated strategy of regulatory arbitrage for commercial benefit. Neither Binance NZ nor its immediate parent company, which is registered in Ireland, were named in the CFTC case.

Binance owner and CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was himself named among the defendants, described the CFTC move as "unexpected and disappointing."

"Upon an initial review, the complaint appears to contain an incomplete recitation of facts, and we do not agree with the characterization of many of the issues alleged in the complaint," Zhao says.

Asked whether Binance NZ had anything to add in relation to the CFTC legal action, Rose says Zhao has made the Binance position clear.

"For Binance NZ, as in all local markets, we are looking to engage positively with local regulators. To that end, we are a New Zealand registered financial services provider and have participated actively in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's recent 'Future of Money' public consultation process to help inform what a thriving and well-regulated crypto ecosystem could look like in this country," says Rose.

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