Binance to End Stock Token Support 3 Months After Launch
- Binance will no longer allow its customers to purchase its popular stock tokens, “effective immediately”.
- Customers now have 90 days, until 14 October 2021 , to liquidate their stock token positions, before the exchange completely stops support for the product.
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Binance will no longer allow its customers to purchase its popular stock tokens “effective immediately”, the cryptocurrency exchange said in a blog post on 16 July.
The announcement came only three months after the release of the product, with the exchange saying that it will be stopping support for stock token purchases starting Friday. Binance warned its users they have 90 days — until 14 October 2021 — to liquidate their stock token positions, as after that time the exchange will no longer support stock tokens at all. The exchange wrote:
“Effective immediately, stock tokens are unavailable for purchase on Binance.com, and Binance.com will no longer support any stock tokens after 2021-10-14 19:55 (UTC).”
The tokens were first launched in April, and allowed Binance users to buy a fraction of a share in companies such as Tesla and Coinbase. The offering was later expanded with the addition of MicroStrategy, Microsoft, and Apple stock tokens. Less than ten days after Binance released the tokens, German and British regulators revealed they were examining to offering to see if the exchange had complied with security laws.
While the exchange did say it was closing down support for these tokens so it could “shift our commercial focus to other product offerings”, the development is likely a response to the growing regulatory scrutiny.
The past months have been tough on Binance, with regulators around the world saying the exchange was either unregulated or unauthorized to operate in their jurisdictions. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority issued a consumer warning that Binance is not allowed to conduct regulated activities in the country back in June, which was followed by a similar statement from the Italian CONSOB just yesterday. Hong Kong and Lithuanian regulators became the latest to publish warnings to Binance.
- The popular crypto exchange has decided to sell its business in Russia to CommEX, a crypto exchange business that was officially launched on Tuesday.
- Binance noted that it will fully exit the Russian market, and have no ongoing revenue split or any option to buy back shares in the business.
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- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.