France has warmly welcomed Binance’s bid to put down roots in one of Europe’s top financial centres, drawing a deep divide with watchdogs in the UK that rejected the crypto giant.
Binance this week received a nod from French financial regulators, a move that clears the way for the crypto exchange to establish a significant presence in the G7 nation and could also help unlock access to other jurisdictions across Europe.
The group’s success in convincing French financial supervisors to allow one of its subsidiaries to act as a registered digital assets service provider followed a months-long effort by Binance to court local politicians and regulators. Its chief executive Changpeng Zhao said in an interview with the Financial Times that he met President Emmanuel Macron in November 2021.