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The American subsidiary of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange – Binance US – disclosed it will no longer support the Amp token (AMP) on its platform. The decision comes as a result of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent insider-trading case, which identified the asset as a security.
The financial regulator named nine tokens in total that classify as such. AMP, though, is the only one among those that Binance US provides access to.
Abiding By the Rules
In a recent announcement, the trading venue said it is committed to “transparency and consumer education” and supports the regulatory requests issued by the watchdogs. The company’s listing process includes a Digital Asset Risk Assessment Framework – a feature that explores whether all tokens are listed according to necessary law requirements.
Despite its due diligence procedure, Binance US operates as a flexible entity ready to satisfy the SEC’s obligations. Last week, the agency filed fraud charges of insider trading against the former manager at Coinbase – Ishan Wahi. Additionally, the regulator identified nine tokens listed by the exchange as securities.
Binance US was quick to react and vowed to delist the only coin it supports from that club – AMP. Effective from August 15, users will no longer be able to buy or sell it. The step is not final since the firm revealed it could bring back the token “until more clarity exists” around its classification.
The delisting negatively affected AMP’s price. Currently, it trades at $0.008189, which is a 10% decline compared to yesterday’s figures. The token has a market capitalization of over $345 million (according to CoinMarketCap’s data).
Binance and Regulators
The trading venue had to cope with multiple issues with global watchdogs last year. In June 2021, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning to Binance that it could not operate in the country the way it was until then:
“Due to the imposition of requirements by the FCA, Binance Markets Limited is not currently permitted to undertake any regulated activities without the prior written consent of the FCA. No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorization, registration or license to conduct a regulated activity in the UK.”
Two months later, the company settled its problems with the agency, complying with “all aspects of its requirements.”
Apart from the UK, Binance struggled with issues in Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and South Africa. Due to these hurdles, CEO Changpeng Zhao assured that the organization will part with its decentralization principles:
“When we first started, we wanted to embrace the decentralized principles, no headquarters, work all around the world, no borders. It’s very clear now to run a centralized exchange, you need a centralized, legal entity structure behind it.”
The firm also started looking to expand its global operations in different locations. Over the past few months, France, Italy, and Germany gave their nod to it to offer crypto products and services to residents of those nations.
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