Crypto exchange Binance has formed a joint venture with a consortium led by Indonesia’s largest telecoms company. The venture aims to expand the country’s blockchain ecosystem and develop a new digital asset exchange.
In an announcement on December 15, 2021, blockchain and crypto infrastructure provider Binance said that it has formed a joint venture with a consortium led by MDI Ventures, according to Bitcoin.com. MDI is the $830-million venture capital arm of Telkom Indonesia, the largest telecom firm in the country.
“Binance will provide world-class asset management infrastructure and technology to support the development of the new exchange platform,” the company said.
“Our ambition at Binance is to grow the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem globally, and this initiative in Indonesia is a significant step in that direction,” Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said.
Binance has recently faced scrutiny from regulators worldwide. As a result, the company has to introduce changes to its offerings and even plans to put up office in some jurisdictions to meet regulatory requirements.
The company recently announced that it will put up an office in the U.K. “We’re making a number of very substantial changes in organizational structures, product offerings, our internal processes, and the way we work with regulators,” CZ said in a recent interview. “We want to continue to establish a presence in the U.K. and serve U.K. users in a fully licensed and fully compliant manner.”
The crypto exchange plans to establish a separate company called Binance UK within 6 to 18 months. With an office, it hopes to address FCA concerns and make it easier for the regulator to monitor its compliance on money laundering and terrorist financing rules.
In October, Binance disabled futures, options, margin, and leveraged tokens in South Africa. “As Binance constantly evaluates its product and service offerings to comply with local regulations, we will cease offering the following products to South African users: futures, options, margin, and leveraged tokens,” the company announced.
It also announced in August that it will cease to offer crypto derivatives trading for existing Australian users. “Users will no longer be able to manually reduce or close their positions after 2021-12-23 11:59 PM (UTC),” the company said. “Thereafter all remaining open positions will be closed.”
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