I have previously reported on what can only be described as a coordinated attack on cryptocurrency, you can read about it here. And this seems to be the second wave of actions that just hit Binance.
Australia de-banks Binance in May
In what can only be a shitty thing to do, and presumably skirting the border of what is even legal. Binance Australias head, Ben Rose, reportedly said he got less than a day's warning that Binance Australia where going to get de-banked. There was no prior warning the exchange’s regional manager has said.
We received 24 hours’ notice of debanking at 11:30 pm in the evening, that was later turned into 12 hours, and so we had our banking cut off.
Binance Australia where using a company called Zepto as their local payment provider. And according to them, they were told to "cut Binance off" from the Australian banking system. These instructions came from Cuscal, Zepto’s partner banking and payments provider. This in turn, obviously, impacted Binances 1 million Australian customers adversely.
According to Rose the reason they gave, well he said this about them: “The reasons given were not entirely clear and didn’t look that great in the media”. And apparently, a spokesperson for Cutsal skirted the specific reason for de-banking Binance and gave the normal FUD answer:
Following recent media attention in relation to the impact of scams and fraud in Australia with particular focus on account fraud, ID takeover and crypto activity, Cuscal reiterates its commitment and important role in identifying and implementing detection services for our clients across the Australian payments system
To me, this just screams that Cutsals hands were forced in this matter. Seeing that this where back in May, it is most likely to build support for the SEC suit against them. Having something like this to point at ad say, see they are bad, or why would Australia de-bank them?
Binance getting de-bankes in the European Economic Area
Shortly after Binance announced they were pulling out of the U.K. and Cyprus, and having to pull out of the Netherlands because they were unable to get the correct license. This that can only be described as a badly cocked copy pasta was reported. To some degree at least. Here their banking partner Paysafe seems to have given Binance ample time and notice of the termination. As it is said to take place on September 25th.
Mmmm, my favorite type of pasta, the one that screws you. That's what it's called right?
But Binance appears to already have a new solution as they are set to switch over and start using SEPA. And that is? You might ask yourself. SEPA, short for Single Euro Payments Area, is the European Union’s integrated, cross-border payment network for euro transactions. And they have already announced to their customers that they need to update their banking details in order to accommodate these new changes.
Regarding a reason for all this, I have not been able to find one. The only thing I have been able to find is the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), U.K's financial regulator, has expressed concern over Binance gaining access to the country's primary payments network. As they recently started to use Paysafe as well. But as the U.K. is no longer part of the European Economic Area, I can't really believe that they would be able to make this happen. Paysafe had very little to say on the matter. They did not even resort to the normal FUD reasons one would expect to be thrown around.
"Following a strategic review, we have taken the decision to cease offering our embedded wallet solution to Binance across the region," Paysafe said in an email. "We are already in the process of withdrawing the service in the UK."
But as Binance recently reported, on June 19th, they canceled the permissions they had from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). PErmissions they attained after buying a U.K. company they were planning to revamp into Binance.uk, similar to Binance.us. But apparently, these plans never came to fruition, and the company that now goes under the name Binance Markets Limited (BML) decided to cancel the permits, as they were not needed or in use.
And according to Binance.com “[it] does not own or operate any crypto services in the UK and is only available to UK consumers on a reverse solicitation basis". Meaning there is no Binance in the U.K. So then the U.K. making a power play to get Binance de-banked in the whole EEA, which the U.K. is no longer a part of since they left the EU. Seems very improbable.
**Binance France gets a surprise visit **
And at about the same time, on June 16th, Binance's head office in Paris gets a surprise visit from regulators and inspectors. Nothing strange about that in of itself. What makes my internal alarm bell ring is the timing of it. And from what I have read about the visit, reports differ vastly. Some claim it was just a visit to see if things were in order, which they apparently were. Other outlets are the polar opposite, reporting that Binance is under investigation for aggravated money laundering. Making it pretty hard to know what is what.
The only side I can find that has commented on the situation is Binance. And according to them the surprise visit where nothing out of the ordinary. And I where not able to find any comment made by the French financial regulator, the AMF (Autorité des Marchés Financiers).
Binance problem in EU
Disregarding the Australian situation. If we take a look at the things in the EU it certainly looks like a second front has opened up in the war against crypto. Getting de-banked like this, for no apparent reason that I can see, must be, to say the least very frustrating for Binance. And having to exit the Netherlands because they failed to acquire a proper license to operate there after already having been there for some time. And the timing of the surprise visit in France, and possibly being investigated as well. It at least to me looks to be painting a picture of a dark motif.
What I find most baffling about this whole situation in the EU is that they just adopted new crypto regulation, called MiCA. While I have not fully looked into what they exactly mean for crypto, they are set to take effect from 2024, at least part of them. So having this much action inside the EU when new regulations are on the horizon. I don't know why they have chosen right now to act. It looks like they either are acting while they still can do something, or they are being good "allies" following the marching orders of "someone".
If we look at the Netherlands they are a center for shitty companies looking to exploit free trade deals to get a leg up against local government. And the Netherlands seems to have established itself as the place where they can make that happen. Meaning a lot of companies with dubious morals at the very least have proxy offices there in order to take advantage of all the Dutch free trade agreements. This is of course all done in the open and is one of those dirty little secrets that everyone knows about but no one likes to talk about. Similar to tax haven nations, but here you get to sue local governments for huge amounts of money because they "threatened your profits" instead.
Blackrock and Vanguard own the wheel, the wheel in turn owns the spokes. Ergo They own it all. This is just groceries, Sorce
If this sound like it would fit well with a certain global powerhouse of a company *cough* (looking at you Blackrock). I would not be surprised if they or Vanguard have their version of Grima Wormtongue hard at work in the EU currently. But how bad or big can they be you might ask? Well, Oxfam Research says that 82% of all earned money in 2017 went to those 1%. And I don't think they have slowed down since then. Just pause and let those numbers sink in. 82%, that is a pretty high number. To get to that high of a number it literally means you have at least a handful of fingers firmly embedded in every pie there is. They got a large stake even in the lamest of horses.
Do I think they are trying to either kill or get a controlling stake in the burgeoning crypto market? Well statistically speaking at least that seems to be one of the safest bets one ever could make. But why now you might ask? Well, I can only assume it is because crypto now has passed the infancy stage of whether they will or won't make it, and stick around. And with crypto proving it is fairly resilient despite all the chaos within and without it. And as the saying goes buy low sell high. And compared to the peak market cap of $3 trillion, the current market cap of $1 trillion fits that to a tea.
Think I am correct in my assessment that the EU has become the second front in the war to quell or control cryptocurrency? Or am I simply seeing things that are not there, and things just happen to align like this naturally? Please sound off, also let me know if I missed something or got something wrong. Might be more stuff going on in the EU that I totally missed. Or gotten wrong. The comment section is all yours.
Riddle me this: why do so many people draw bullets fired with the casing still on?
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BlackRock have got their fingers in many pies! Great work laying it all out here.
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