coindesk.com
Binance wants its new U.K. trading platform to become a one-stop-shop for British and European institutions interested in investing in the digital asset class.
Per a report by Reuters on Wednesday, Binance said its new U.K. crypto exchange would offer a local fiat onramp into crypto, in both pound sterling and euros. Like Binance’s other fiat-to-crypto platforms, such as Binance Uganda, Binance Singapore, and Binance US, the new Binance U.K. platform will launch with something like 65 digital assets listed.
But the U.K. platform, which Reuters says well be regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the U.K.’s chief financial watchdog, will target a more traditional crowd. Binance U.K.’s new director, Teana Baker-Taylor, who only joined the exchange group last month, had previously worked as HSBC’s global strategy head.
As part of her role, Baker-Taylor is responsible for spearheading Binance’s expansion across Europe. “Binance U.K. will also serve European customers,” a spokesperson told CoinDesk. “The platform caters to both the U.K. and European markets.”
Binance U.K. is expected to launch sometime this summer.
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Like other crypto exchanges, Binance has experienced rising interest from institutional investors. The exchange told Decrypt in May, for instance, that the number of new institutional clients onboarded in Q1 2020 was nearly 50% higher than the preceding quarter.
“As crypto services mature and evolve, we’re able to create new options to engage and capture interest from a wider audience with varying risk appetites, such as products that earn a yield for participation, like staking and passive savings,” Baker-Taylor said to Reuters.
Binance has been operating a similar trading platform on the Channel island of Jersey, a British dependency, since January 2019. Like the U.K. platform, it allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies against the pound and the euro.
The spokesperson told CoinDesk that the Jersey platform will continue to operate independently of Binance U.K.