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by Kevin Helms
Binance’s regulatory troubles continue with Lithuania being the latest country to issue a warning about the cryptocurrency exchange. Lithuania’s announcement came one day after Italy issued a similar warning.
Lithuania’s central bank announced Friday that it has issued a warning to Binance UAB about its unlicensed investment services provided in Lithuania. The central bank also “ordered the company to ensure that its publicly available information is not misleading.”
The central bank explained that it has assessed publicly available information and found that Binance is “acting as a virtual currency exchange operator and a custodian virtual currency wallet operator” in the country. The bank wrote:
The Bank of Lithuania addressed Binance UAB … and warned the company about its unlicensed investment services provided in Lithuania as well as requested it to ensure that its publicly available information complies with legal requirements and is not misleading.
In addition, the Bank of Lithuania noted that “crypto-asset related services are not regulated or supervised, thus consumers risk losing all their investments.”
The central bank further detailed that some online crypto exchange platforms allow their customers to invest in cryptocurrency derivatives (such as futures and options), contracts for difference (CFD), or crypto-assets linked to securities. The central bank emphasized that these are considered financial instruments and the platforms offering them must be licensed as financial service providers.
However, the central bank clarified, “Companies that are registered in Lithuania as virtual currency exchange operators are not supervised as financial service providers,” elaborating:
They also have no right to provide any financial services, including investment services.
On Monday, Italy issued a similar warning about Binance. Regulators in the U.K., Japan, Cayman Islands, and Thailand also recently issued warnings on the global crypto exchange. In response, Binance has suspended GBP withdrawals and EUR deposits via SEPA bank transfers.
