The Binance unit, called BV Investment Management, pulled
the application with Abu Dhabi's financial regulator, a spokesperson for
Binance said on Thursday.
The request, filed a year ago and withdrawn on November 7,
would have allowed the firm to manage a collective investment fund, according
to the regulator's website.
"When assessing our global licensing needs, we decided
this application was not necessary," the Binance spokesperson said.
Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Service Regulatory
Authority (FSRA) declined to comment.
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down as CEO last
month after pleading guilty to breaking US anti-money laundering laws, with the
exchange agreeing to pay over $4.3 billion to resolve a years-long U.S.
investigation.
The decision to pull the licence application was
"unrelated" to the US settlement, the Binance spokesperson said.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has been pushing to
become a digital asset hub, has been a key location for Binance. Binance has
regulator permissions in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, its website shows.
Binance last year said it was recruiting over 100 positions
in Dubai and helping to shape its crypto regulations.
Former CEO Zhao, a Canadian citizen who was born in China,
also became a citizen of the UAE at its invitation, according to U.S. court
documents. Zhao has been listed as the owner of two properties in Dubai,
filings show.
New CEO Richard Teng, speaking virtually at a Financial
Times conference in London on Tuesday, said the company's Middle East and North
Africa headquarters were in Dubai.
He said that the company would announce the location of its
global headquarters "in due course", but declined to give further
details on when this announcement would be.
Cyprus, Belgium
This year, Binance has withdrawn from a licence application
process in Germany, pulled back from Cyprus and said it was leaving the
Netherlands. It was ordered by financial regulators to stop operating in
Belgium, but said in August it had set up a Polish entity to serve clients in
Belgium.
Binance said the pullback from Cyprus was to focus on
"fewer regulated entities in the EU", including France, Italy and
Spain, ahead of the rollout of the European Union's crypto asset regulations.
Binance has also stopped accepting new users in the UK and
has said it would sell its Russia business. In Australia, regulators cancelled
the financial services licence of Binance's derivatives business.
Last week, the securities regulator in the Philippines said
it had started the process of blocking Binance there.
The Binance spokesperson said on Thursday the company would
continue to work with regulators to "to provide world-class services and
offerings in the Middle East and beyond." © Reuters
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