After warning local investors about Binance last week, Poland’s Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) reminds that they are still free to decide whether to use this platform. As it does not supervise crypto exchanges in Poland, the authority only reacts to situations in which it believes investors could be harmed.
The aim of its latest statement on Binance, in which the regulator advised investors to be careful while using the company’s services, was “to inform investors on the potential risks related to the activities of this entity which have been pointed out by foreign regulators,” a spokesperson for the KNF told Cryptonews.com.
“The decision to use the services of this entity rests entirely on the side of investors. The Financial Supervision Authority does not perform any analyses related to the popularity of particular [cryptocurrency exchange] services, as, in principle, these entities are not regulated by the KNF,” the spokesperson said, adding that the KNF only “responds on an ongoing basis to situations that may put investors at risk.”
“In the event that the activities of any of the entities operating in the Polish market will arise the suspicion of the office (or the suspicion of foreign regulatory authorities) regarding the compliance of their activities with the applicable law, the KNF will take appropriate steps in such cases,” the spokesperson said. He didn’t comment whether the KNF is planning to issue more similar warnings about other crypto exchanges.
The spokesperson stressed that cryptoassets are not a supervised market in Poland and the KNF does not issue licenses, register, or supervise crypto exchanges: “There are also no legal instruments that serve to support those customers who are victims of these entities.”
Asked whether the KNF or other Polish state-run bodies were developing any regulations related to cryptocurrencies, the spokesperson replied that the most important regulation is currently prepared at the EU level, and he referred to the European Commission’s draft Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) which is advancing through its first readings in the Council and the European Parliament. The KNF is contributing to the development of this regulation via the Polish Ministry of Finance.
Yesterday, Italy became another country that warned investors against using Binance, saying that the companies of the Binance Group are not authorized to provide investment services and activities in this country, not even through the website binance.com whose sections called “derivatives” and “Stock Token.” Meanwhile, today, theSecurities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong also warned that no entity in the Binance group is licensed or registered to conduct “regulated activity” in Hong Kong. The SFC said it is concerned that Binance is offering stock tokens, that represent stocks of listed companies, to local investors too.
“In Hong Kong, Stock Tokens are likely to be “securities” under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) and if so, they are subject to the regulatory remit of the SFC,” it said. The Bank of Lithuania has also issued a similar warning today.
However, after multiple warnings, Binance said today that stock tokens are already unavailable for purchase on Binance.com, and Binance.com will no longer support any such tokens as the platform shifts its “commercial focus to other product offerings.” Users who currently hold stock tokens may sell or hold them over the next 90 days, while users residing in the European Economic Area and Switzerland may send their stock token balances to CM-Equity AG once its new portal is established.
In either case, as reported, a similar warning in the UK has benefited a number of its rivals, including Bitstamp, Kraken, and Gemini, that saw sharp increases in signups from the UK.
At 15:44 UTC, BNB, the native token of Binance, trades at USD 311 and is down by 1% in a day. The price is up by 8% in the past two weeks, trimming its monthly losses to almost 15%. BNB skyrocketed by 1,673% in a year.
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