Much of the crypto community considers that Binance operates from China or Malta, but could it be true that the main headquarters of this exchange is located in one of these countries? Let's see.
Binance is a exchange or exchange platform that was launched on the market in 2017. Its founder and CEO, Changpeng Zhao, has been developing work in the crypto ecosystem since around 2013, when he joined the Blockchain.info. Since then, Zhao has been participating in various crypto projects and in 2017 she founded Binance based in China. Although a few months after establishing the company, the Asian giant implemented strict measures in relation to cryptocurrencies and exchange houses for these assets, which is why according to Zhao the project had to withdraw from the Asian country.
Since then, it is not known with certainty where the office or headquarters of this important exchange, which manages a large amount of assets of millions of users around the world, was moved. This large trading volume is what led Binance to become one of the leading cryptocurrency platforms in the market, operating with more than 100 crypto assets and handling one of the largest trading volumes today. However, knowing that our assets are in the hands of an exchange whose CEO does not fully clarify where it operates from or where claims or demands can be directed is a bit strange and truly worrying.
Let's analyze all the statements made by Zhao about the legal structure of the company, and the alleged locations from which this important exchange operates.
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Where is Binance located?
Since Binance was “moved” from China, there is no certainty or security of where this exchange was moved to. However, if we study the clues given for years, we can get an idea of the truth or the big lie in which we have been living.
China or Japan?
After the bans issued by China, the portal Bitcoin news published an article where he interviewed Zhao to talk about the life of Binance after the Asian country's ban on cryptocurrency exchanges. In this article Zhao noted that Binance was operating from Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China. However, almost a month later the portal of TechInAsia published a report on Binance revealing that this exchange made profits in the order of 7,5 million dollars in just 3 months. In the report TechInAsia notes that Binance was operating from Tokyo, Japan.
Likewise, a user in Reddit published a note asking for the location of the exchange, since no exact address was specified on the website. Before this question, one of the Binance employees responded that they were in Tokyo and Shanghai, again alluding that they had a headquarters in Japan and another in China, although it was no longer Hong Kong.
Likewise, several news sites published information related to Binance, mentioning that the exchange was located in Hong Kong. For example, an article from Bloomberg notes that Binance, which operated from Hong Kong, had integrated more than 240 new users to its platform.. Later, in 2019, the portal Forklog indicated that there had been a Police raid on Binance office in Shanghai. Given this publication, Binance spoke out denying the existence of said office.
After a month of this raid, Coindesk also published an article about Binance, mentioning that the exchange operated from Shanghai, a publication that Zhao did not refute despite having denied the existence of this office a few weeks earlier.
Malta, the blockchain paradise?
After its “exit” from China, almost all media agree that Binance moved to Japan, but that its license application was not approved in this country so it had to migrate again. On this occasion, several publications point out that Binance moved its headquarters to Malta, the blockchain paradise.
The decision to move to Malta was explained by Zhao himself in a article Bloomberg where he confirmed that he would open a new headquarters on the island. Thus, on March 23, 2018, the Prime Minister of Malta, Joseph Muscat, announced on his Twitter account the welcome of Binance to his territory.
With its headquarters in Malta, Binance began to carry out different operations to expand its financial services. Thus, the exchange opened a bank account on the island, provided its support to the Fintech industry, ventured into the Malta Stock Exchange and acquired a share in Founder Bank, a major bank on the island.
However, in a release From the island it was determined that Binance does not currently have a headquarters or office in Malta, it is even stated that this exchange does not have a license to operate within its territory at all; a statement that was confirmed by the Maltese government.
The statement reads:
“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 authorized by the MFSA to operate in the cryptocurrency sphere… However, the Authority is assessing whether Binance has any activities in Malta that do not fall within the scope of regulatory oversight.”
Zhao claims that Binance is not in Malta
On his Twitter account, Zhao posted a thread confirming that Binance does not have an official headquarters in Malta, pointing out that there is a mix of misconceptions regarding the location of the exchange.
But then Where is Binance located? To date there is no concise statement from Changpeng Zhao regarding the location of Binance's headquarters. The CEO of this important exchange has evaded the question on several occasions, issuing confusing and not at all convincing answers in this regard.
Zhao's attitude regarding this issue has already raised the suspicions of several in the community, to the point that a user notes It seems that Binance “is always on the run.”
On the other hand, there is no legal structure on Binance either. Who are its legal representatives? Who is the company responsible for supporting the assets managed by the exchange? o Where can claims or demands be made?
Before the Malta statement, Binance established that claims and lawsuit processes should be directed to Binance Europe Services Ltd, based in Malta; but after the statement, the exchange removed these mentions from the terms of use published on its website. And although Zhao tried to calm the concerns of users and clients after the Malta statement, the truth is that he did not respond clearly, so the question remains open. Where is Binance located?According to its CEO, Binance is in several places; A really vague and imprecise answer.
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