Binance Issues Another Cease and Desist to ‘Scam’ Company, Second In A Week

Crypto exchange Binance has issued a cease and desist order to a fraudulent company using its name—for the second time in a week.

This time, Binance took to Twitter to share that it has issued a cease and desist notice to UK-based Binance Ltd, which it described as “a scam company” that is "not affiliated with Binance in any way."

The statement came in response to a recent Reddit post claiming that “the billion dollar crypto company, Binance, has a utility closet listed as an office in the UK.” The post referenced Binance Ltd, a company with a registered office in the small rural town of Mildenhall, Suffolk.

Its listed address points to the headquarters of OfficeServ, a virtual registered address service provider, with the premises sharing the same address with more than 2,400 companies, according to Companies House.

The UK government's company registrar website shows that Binance Ltd. is providing “other service activities not elsewhere classified.”

“This is not a Binance entity,” a spokesperson for Binance confirmed to Decrypt.

The news comes hot on the heels of Binance earlier this week issuing a cease and desist notice to "Binance Nigeria Limited," a company that had been fraudulently soliciting Nigerian investors.

What are registered offices?

It should be noted that registered offices are not necessarily associated with scams. A registered office is an official address that a company uses for legal and administrative purposes. It is the address where the company's official documents, such as legal notices, correspondence, and government communications, are sent.

Many companies may choose to have a registered office in a different location than their actual operational office. This can be for various reasons, including tax benefits or legal requirements. For example, a company may have its operational office in one country but maintain a registered office in another country where it conducts business or has subsidiary companies.

However, some scams and fraudulent activities, including in the crypto space, may also establish a registered office address to make their operations seem more credible, potentially causing significant reputational damage to legitimate companies.

Binance in the UK

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Binance Markets Limited (BML), the UK subsidiary of Binance, has officially withdrawn the permissions the company held with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) for non crypto-related activities.

“Following the completion of the cancellation of permissions the firm is no longer authorised by the FCA,” said the UK financial regulator. “No other entity in the Binance Group holds any form of UK authorisation or registration to conduct regulated business in the UK.”