World’s Biggest Crypto Exchange Binance Banned By UK Financial Regulator

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has banned the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, from conducting any “regulated activity” in the country. This is the latest blow against cryptocurrency, which is under increasing pressure from governments across the world.

According to the BBC, the FCA declared that Binance Markets Limited (BML), which is owned by the larger Binance Group, isn’t allowed to engage in regulated activities in the country without written permission from the authority.

The emphasis on “regulated activities” is important as well as potentially confusing because the FCA doesn’t regulate cryptocurrencies like bitcoin or ether – so people can still use the Binance website to buy and sell those.

However, the FCA does regulate some cryptoasset derivatives (like futures contracts) as well as cryptoassets it considers “securities”. In those cases, the ban is in effect. The authority also issued an advisory against online ads “promising high returns on investments in cryptoasset or cryptoasset-related products.”

Binance reportedly told the BBC that the FCA’s announcement has no “direct impact” on the services it offers through its website. “BML is a separate legal entity and does not offer any products or services via the Binance.com website,” said a company spokesperson.

Notwithstanding the details, the development does reflect increasing institutional hostility towards cryptocurrency across the globe. China, for example, has recently cracked down on both crypto trading and mining.

Google Signs Massive Deal With News Corp, In Exchange For Contents

News Corp has announced that Google has agreed to sign a three-year deal with the company in exchange for contents from its news sites all over the world. The exact financial terms behind the deal were not revealed but News Corp has stated that it will receive “significant payments” from Google.

According to the press release from News Corp, among its publications that are coming to Google News Showcase as the result of this deal includes The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post from the US together with The Times & The Sunday Times and The Sun from the UK. The Australian and Sky News is part of the deal too.

Meanwhile, the new deal does not only involve content access. News Corp stated that there will also be the development of a subscription platform as well as audio journalism, investments in video journalism by YouTube, and ad revenue sharing.

The announcement is certainly an interesting development for Google who has been facing pressure from the Australian government regarding an upcoming law that requires the search engine giant to pay media companies for the contents that appear on Google’s sites. In fact, it actually got to the point where Google is already looking to pull out Google Search from Australia in its attempt to ease the pressure.

However, signs of Google bowing down to the pressure have begun to appear earlier this month when it signed a paid deal with several Australian media houses including Nine Entertainment, and Seven West Media. So, given these deals, it seems that users in Australia will most probably able to continue using Google Search for the foreseeable future.