Binance Granted Regulatory Approval to Manage and Trade Virtual Currencies in Sweden

Binance has successfully registered as a licenced financial institution in Sweden, the cryptocurrency exchange company announced on Wednesday. Swedish regulators have approved Binance Nordics AB to facilitate the management and trading of virtual currencies for its nationals. With this development, Sweden has become the seventh member state of the European Union (EU) to grant Binance regulatory approvals. Previously, France, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, and Poland have taken a similar decision. For Binance, this marks for an important milestone as the exchange moves forward in its aim to become the most licenced crypto firm in the world.

Crypto investors in Sweden will now have options to purchase digital assets in Euros and utilise Binance Visa card as well as Binance NFT services.

“Our registration in Sweden is the result of many months of diligent, hard work from our team, underpinning our commitment to the Swedish market and our users. We are deeply grateful for the support from the Swedish Financial Services Authority throughout the application process and for the approval,” Richard Teng, Binance's head of the European and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions, said in a press release.

In the coming days, the exchange will open job positions for Swedish locals and schedule a calendar with details on crypto awareness and educational programmes.

“We are deeply grateful for the support from the Swedish Financial Services Authority throughout the application process and for the approval,” Teng noted.

Binance was founded by its CEO Changpeng Zhao in July 2017 and currently has offices in the US, Cayman Islands, and Lithuania, among other parts of the world.

Binance grabbed the largest chunk of the global crypto market in the year 2022. In its analysis, digital assets research firm Arcane said that by the last week of December, Binance had 92 percent of Bitcoin's spot market — the base market where crypto assets are settled and exchanged instantaneously.

Before wrapping up the year of 2022, the exchange acquired Indonesia's Tokocrypto exchange and Japan's Sakura exchange.

The exchange is currently facing legal issues against its proposal to purchase the assets of bankrupt crypto lender, Voyager.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a limited objection to Binance.US's proposed $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,250 crore) acquisition of Voyager.

The SEC has said the purchase agreement lacks details on the crypto exchange's ability to close the deal and has asked for more information on the nature of the company's business operations following the deal, according to the filing.