Malaysian Authorities Latest to Take Action Against Binance
This month Malaysia’s Securities Commission came down hard on Binance and issued a “public reprimand” against the company for “continuing to operate illegally in Malaysia” according to their press release.
The news follows hot on the heels of a warning issued in July 2019, which means that Binance have precisely two weeks to cease all operations in the country; including taking down their website as well as removing access to mobile apps. The exchange must also halt any advertising campaigns they may have had live at the time.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, a spokesperson from Binance stated
“We do not operate out of Malaysia. Binance takes a collaborative approach in working with regulators in navigating this emerging industry and we take our compliance obligations very seriously. We are actively keeping abreast of changing policies, rules, and laws in this new space,”
If anyone’s going to be made a scapegoat, it looks like the authorities of many countries have decided that it should be Binance. Malaysia joins Japan, Thailand and Singapore in the region as counter-advocates of the exchange. Further afield, The US, UK, Germany and Poland have also issued legal orders against the firm.
Google Reverses Decision on Crypto Related Ads
Back in June 2018. Google made the decision to disallow promotion of crypto related websites and services through it’s Adwords network. As of August 3rd, that decision has been modified allowing certain business to once again advertise on the worlds largest ad network platform…with some strict rules put in place. Essentially, Google want to benefit from ad revenue from these services, without unwittingly promoting scam websites.
However; the whole industry remains in flux. Just as Google takes one step in the right direction, Chinese social platform TikTok banned crypto related advertising on their platform in July.
Uruguay paving the way to Crypto Payments
Whilst turmoil reigns in the world’s leading markets when it comes to acceptance of crypto assets, Latin America continues to strive for progression in the region. Last week, Juan Satori spearheaded the introduction of a bill designed to push adoption of crypto in LATAM. Not just small steps either – the bills calls out the recognition and legal validity of its use in any lawful business; including acceptance of crypto as a “valid means of payment”.
The bill doesn’t stretch quite as far as the steps taken in El Salvador which proposed crypto become legal tender in the same was as fiat currencies, but no doubt strengthens the position and adoption rate of currencies including Bitcoin in the region. Uruguay now joins Paraguay and Panama that aim to adopt crypto at the nation state level. Which LATAM country will be next?