Unless it can find another service provider, crypto exchange Binance will suspend British pound sterling deposits and withdrawals starting on May 22, according to an email shared with Decrypt.
The email, which was sent to customers on Monday, explained that customers won’t be able to use GBP as their account on- or off-ramps because Skrill Limited, the U.K.-based partner Binance uses for Faster Payments Service transactions, will no longer support it.
As of Monday afternoon, new Binance users will be unable to open accounts on the exchange with GBP deposits, a spokesperson told Decrypt in an email. But they said existing users can still access their GBP balances.
“This change affects less than 1% of Binance users,” the spokesperson said in an email. “However, we know that these services are valued by our users and our team is working hard to find an alternative solution for them. We will share updates on this as and when we are able.”
Binance has had an on, off, on, and now off-again relationship with GBP.
The company first added GBP trading pairs in 2020, ahead of launching its U.K.-based trading platform. At the time, UK citizens could convert fiat to crypto on Binance through Binance Jersey, an exchange based on an island between England and France that has low tax rates.
UK Crypto Crackdown: Which British Banks Allow You to Buy Bitcoin?
UK banks are getting tougher on customers using crypto. In the past week, two of the country’s biggest banks—Nationwide and HSBC—cracked down by applying daily limits for buyers or restricting credit cards from making crypto purchases. These two banks aren’t the only ones: a number of banks over the past year have got tougher. Some took a tougher stance following the collapse of mega digital asset exchange FTX back in November. According to most U.K. high-street banks with limits, the crackdow...
But in June 2021,the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ordered Binance Markets Limited, the company’s UK-based entity, to stop “any regulated activities” without prior written consent.
Between then and March 2022, users were unable to use GBP or euros to fund their accounts. Then, this time last year, Binance reintroduced GBP and euro transfers with PaySafe’s Skrill as its fiat partner.
"We have agreed with Binance to cease offering our embedded wallet solution to their customers in the UK," a Skrill representative told Decrypt. "We have concluded that the UK regulatory environment in relation to crypto is too challenging to offer this service at this time and so this is a prudent decision on our part taken in an abundance of caution."
Paysafe, which owns Skrill and trades on the NYSE under the PSFE ticker, last week reported its fourth quarter earnings. The company noted that it processed $130 billion worth of payments in 2022, up 6% from 2021.
Editor's note: this article was updated to add a statement from Skrill.
