Binance Suspends Key Payment Service for UK Customers

Customers in the UK cannot, for now, use Faster Payments, one of the most used fiat ramps for GBP deposits and withdrawals.

Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has suspended fiat deposits and withdrawals made to the exchange via UK-based payments provider Faster Payments, freezing out a significant number of its users, as reported by the Financial Times.

Faster Payments is operated by Pay.UK, a leading retail payments provider that allows for near-instant transactions across various payment sources, including from banks to Binance.

On Monday, 28 June, Binance.com displayed a simple message that indicated the Faster Payments gateway was “suspended for maintenance.”

Although customers still have access to other payment methods, including bank cards, the suspension could yet affect so many users.

Binance has not released an official statement nor given a timeline on how long customers will have to wait before getting access to the payments service.

The halting of the payments service comes just two days after the UK’s financial regulator asked the exchange to stop offering regulated services in the country. Binance reportedly withdrew its application for an FCA licence last month, and on 26 June, the Financial Conduct Authority warned consumers against Binance Markets Limited.

The regulator noted that the cryptocurrency exchange did not hold “any form of UK authorisation, registration or licence to conduct regulated activity,” including via its Binance.com website.

But Binance appears convinced the FCA notice does not bar UK customers from accessing and using its main digital assets platform. A statement the exchange released following the FCA’s warning stated that the regulator’s reservations only relate to Binance Markets Limited, a “legal entity” that is unrelated to services offered on Binance.com.