Where is Binance located? Not Malta.

[squatter]

Malta's financial regulator published a statement today stating they don't regulate Binance. They have not issued Binance the required license to operate in Malta, and are now assessing whether Binance is violating the Virtual Financial Assets Act:

Following a report in a section of the media referring to Binance as a “Malta-based cryptocurrency” company, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA) reiterates that Binance is not authorised by the MFSA to operate in the crypto currency sphere and is therefore not subject to regulatory oversight by the MFSA. The Authority is however assessing if Binance has any activities in Malta which may not fall within the realm of regulatory oversight. Admission of virtual financial assets to trading and/or for offering virtual financial assets to the public in and from Malta requires an MFSA licence in terms of the Virtual Financial Assets Act (CAP 590) of 2018.

This comes as a shock since Malta was widely believed to be the location of Binance's headquarters.

Changpeng Zhao responded:

“There is a mix of truth, FUD & misconception. Binance.com is not headquartered or operated in Malta. This is old news & has always been the case, hence there is quite a bit of FUD turning this into a breaking story. The community’s comments show that understanding.”

Does anyone have any idea where they operate from, or where they hold any sort of legal registration?

Even the shady Seychelles exchanges can usually produce a registration number with a regulatory body. Binance seems to think they can dodge any and all regulatory oversight by spreading their infrastructure and personnel across multiple borders. That's an interesting position, legally.

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[bullrun2024bro]

I recently found this article on the topic, but no idea how accurate the information are. Before I read the article, I always thought their headquarter is located in Malta too, but it looks like its the Cayman Islands—and the Seychelles.

Binance’s real headquarters are in the Cayman Islands
While Malta may be Binance’s “spiritual home,” it’s actually located in the Cayman Islands—and the Seychelles.

Crypto exchange Binance is registered in the Cayman Islands and the Seychelles, according to the registry offices of each country.

While this has been previously reported in part by the Financial Times, it is not common knowledge. A poll yesterday showed that few in the crypto community had any idea where Binance was based. But company documents clear up the confusion.

Where is Binance located?
In 2017, Binance registered Binance Holdings Limited in George Town, Cayman Islands. According to a corporate linkage document seen by Decrypt, it’s registered as Binance’s headquarters. In March 2018, Binance used the address when registering multiple trademarks of the Binance name and logo.

This may affect Binance's operations in the European Union (EU). The EU has already stated it will be putting the Cayman Islands—a British overseas territory—on a blacklist of tax havens, just two weeks after Britain's withdrawal from the trading bloc.
...

Full article can be found here: https://decrypt.co/19191/binances-real-headquarters-are-in-the-cayman-islands

[joniboini]

Binance will likely seek to pursue the license if Malta found violations on their operations. Centralized exchanges are having a hard time now running away from regulators, while at the same time most users don't want to do KYC to avoid identify theft.

[squatter]

Binance will likely seek to pursue the license if Malta found violations on their operations.

I disagree. I don't think Binance has any intention of "staying" in Malta or complying with AMLD5. The Malta headquarters story was just a facade. They don't operate trading servers there, they don't answer to Maltese regulators, nor do they pay taxes.

The research posted by bullrun2020bro is informative. Binance has entities registered in tax/money laundering havens -- the Cayman Islands and the Seychelles. While they've been known to operate servers from China, Hong Kong, South Korea and elsewhere, the Caymans or Seychelles could probably be considered their legal jurisdiction since that's where their corporations are based.

[rosezionjohn]

I never read any article where CZ said that those articles saying their headquarter in Malta are all false news. He allowed everyone to be fooled and now just counters with 'it's FUD' statement?

I can't even understand what he's trying to say here

There are misconceptions some people have on how the world must work a certain way, you must have offices, HQ, etc. But there is a new world with blockchain now. Again, some of our community understands this, and some don’t. Hence, lots of confusion.

Binance has a number of regulated entities around the world, either operated by our partners or by http://Binance.com directly. We work closely with regulators and comply with the rules in the places where we operate.

It's like he's saying that they have various HQ and it's where their exchanges operate. Binance US hq is in US, Binance Singapore hq is in Singapore. There is no central or main headquarter. Decentralized HQ? 

[pooya87]

I never read any article where CZ said that those articles saying their headquarter in Malta are all false news. He allowed everyone to be fooled and now just counters with 'it's FUD' statement?

they have always been shady about a lot of things as long as it satisfies their profitability. their HQ is one of them. and unfortunately it seems like majority of their users don't care about transparency either, they are lulled by the fact that Binance is still working find or in other words has not yet pulled any major scam like all the similar exchanges before it.
kudos to OP for wanting to get to the bottom of it.

[Exolix]

Does anyone have any idea where they operate from, or where they hold any sort of legal registration?

Even the shady Seychelles exchanges can usually produce a registration number with a regulatory body. Binance seems to think they can dodge any and all regulatory oversight by spreading their infrastructure and personnel across multiple borders. That's an interesting position, legally.

Does the exchange user need to know the location of this exchange? Why does this information matter?

[hugeblack]

Thank you for this topic, I think I need to restore the criterion of "blind trust" since I believe that most people are fooled with the popularity of the platform without looking in depth for legal aspects and making sure that they have all the legal documents if the platform decides to scam them.

According to what I understood from Changpeng Zhao, their headquarters were in Malta, but they did not comply with the conditions required to conduct the required license to work in Malta and consequently they lost another headquarters.

With all the strictness in the legislative laws, I do not think that they can hide a lot of information about the regulatory authorities, but the question is why do they do this despite being a central platform?

[squatter]

According to what I understood from Changpeng Zhao, their headquarters were in Malta, but they did not comply with the conditions required to conduct the required license to work in Malta and consequently they lost another headquarters.

It's worse than that. This is what CZ said:

Binance.com is not headquartered or operated in Malta. This is old news & has always been the case...

That confirms that Binance was never headquartered or operated from there. Based on this, they probably just rented and maintained an empty office in Malta and allowed the world to think they were based there.

With all the strictness in the legislative laws, I do not think that they can hide a lot of information about the regulatory authorities, but the question is why do they do this despite being a central platform?

You can hide a lot in places like the Seychelles. That's why BitMEX and some of the less savory exchanges are based there.

[ScamViruS]

Binance always plays with words. Cz always tweets interesting news about binance to create Bnbcoin hype. I've been seeing his activity for as long as I've been following him. Wikipedia also says binance's headquarter in Malta.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binance
Type company
Founded 2017
Founders Changpeng Zhao Yi He
Headquarters Malta[1]
Key people Changpeng Zhao (CEO)
Products Cryptocurrency exchange
Website www.binance.com

Joseph Muscat's Tweet : https://twitter.com/cz_binance/status/977120106646929408

Joseph muscat resignation creates new problem for binance? Now that cz is saying that their headquarter was not in Malta. I think the new Prime Minister may have taken some action about them.

[Jeremy Franklin]

Wikipedia also says binance's headquarter in Malta.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binance
Type company
Founded 2017
Founders Changpeng Zhao Yi He
Headquarters Malta[1]
Key people Changpeng Zhao (CEO)
Products Cryptocurrency exchange
Website www.binance.com

Come on bro, wikipedia is really not a realiable source, when it comes to such sensitive information. Everyone can edit those and put false information in an article. Wikipedia is nice if you want to check for quick information, but if you wan't to dig a little deeper like in this case Wikipedia is no reliable source.

[ScamViruS]

Come on bro, wikipedia is really not a realiable source, when it comes to such sensitive information. Everyone can edit those and put false information in an article. Wikipedia is nice if you want to check for quick information, but if you wan't to dig a little deeper like in this case Wikipedia is no reliable source.

Yes i know. That is why I have given the PM's tweet here. Those who thought that Binance's headquarter in Malta, now realized that it was actually just a hype. There is no more accurate source that can give use real result. If an exchange does not have an original address, how do you catch them if any major incident happen?   

[Jeremy Franklin]

Come on bro, wikipedia is really not a realiable source, when it comes to such sensitive information. Everyone can edit those and put false information in an article. Wikipedia is nice if you want to check for quick information, but if you wan't to dig a little deeper like in this case Wikipedia is no reliable source.

Yes i know. That is why I have given the PM's tweet here. Those who thought that Binance's headquarter in Malta, now realized that it was actually just a hype. There is no more accurate source that can give use real result. If an exchange does not have an original address, how do you catch them if any major incident happen?   

You are right one that, good question! Hopefully CZ will enlighten us soon, but I doubt he will. At least many people are looking at the topic right now. I am sure sooner or later we will have some reliable information on the matter.

[squatter]

Does anyone have any idea where they operate from, or where they hold any sort of legal registration?

Even the shady Seychelles exchanges can usually produce a registration number with a regulatory body. Binance seems to think they can dodge any and all regulatory oversight by spreading their infrastructure and personnel across multiple borders. That's an interesting position, legally.

Does the exchange user need to know the location of this exchange? Why does this information matter?

I'm fine with the idea of anonymous exchanges who also offer anonymity to their clients.

Binance went further. They basically lied to the entire cryptocurrency community for years by presenting themselves as a Malta-based, EU-based exchange. That made their customers feel safe. It was a massive boost for their reputability and popularity. If they were honest from the start that they were organized in the Cayman Islands -- which was just added to the EU's tax havens blacklist -- or that they wanted to maintain anonymity, they probably wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are today.

[Exolix]

Binance went further. They basically lied to the entire cryptocurrency community for years by presenting themselves as a Malta-based, EU-based exchange. That made their customers feel safe. It was a massive boost for their reputability and popularity. If they were honest from the start that they were organized in the Cayman Islands -- which was just added to the EU's tax havens blacklist -- or that they wanted to maintain anonymity, they probably wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are today.

from this point of view, the behavior of Benance looks like a deliberate deception

[Azrieli]

https://fraudbinance.com/ - there will be all the information about the Binance scam.