Cryptocurrency exchange Binance fined for operating without a license in Uzbekistan

The National Agency for Prospective Projects fined the international cryptocurrency exchange Binance in the amount of 300 BCAs (102 million soums).

It was noted that the exchange did not take appropriate measures to organize activities in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan, including obtaining the relevant service provider’s license.

At the same time, a number of violations have been identified in Binance’s activities:

-  Transactions on the Binance platform were carried out with anonymous crypto-assets, as well as crypto-assets and funds obtained through criminal means (theft, fraud, etc.);
-  The company is a legal entity – not a resident of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
-  There is no electronic platform on servers located in the territory of the Republic of Uzbekistan;
-  The requirements of the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan in the field of crypto-asset circulation, as well as the fight against the legalization of proceeds from criminal activities, the financing of terrorism and the financing of the distribution of weapons of mass destruction, as well as the storage and use of personal data were not observed;
-  There is no charter fund (capital), part of which must be kept in a separate account in the commercial bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Based on the detected violations, a report on compliance with licensing requirements and conditions in the field of crypto-assets circulation was drawn up and sent to the Binance exchange for review and measures to eliminate the violations.

It is noted that according to the current legislation, starting from January 1, 2023, citizens and legal entities of Uzbekistan can carry out operations on the purchase, sale and (or) exchange of cryptocurrency assets only through national providers in accordance with the procedure established by legislation.