The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, or BaFin, reportedly advised crypto exchange Binance to withdraw its licensing application based on concerns with CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and the firm’s structuring.
According to a July 28 report from The Wall Street Journal, BaFin advised Binance that Zhao may not have passed a “fit and proper” test under the financial watchdog’s regulatory guidelines. The regulator’s guidelines for a license application state managing directors — in this case referring to CZ — must “have the required professional qualification and be of good repute to manage an institution and must dedicate sufficient time to performing their functions.”
BaFin also reportedly told Binance the company’s structure hindered regulatory supervision. Binance announced on July 26 that it had withdrawn its application in Germany, saying at the time the decision was based in part on focusing the company’s effort to become compliant with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework.
A spokesperson for Binance told Cointelegraph The Wall Street Journal story was inaccurate. The exchange did not provide a specific response on the details regarding CZ at the time of publication.
In the United States, Binance faces legal actions brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for allegedly violating securities laws and trading guidelines, respectively. Lawyers for the exchange requested the dismissal of the CFTC lawsuit in a July 27 court filing, claiming the commission had exceeded its authority.
Binance and CZ claim CFTC oversteps jurisdiction in legal filing, call for lawsuit dismissal. https://t.co/49viHYuHGE
Though no criminal charges have been filed at the time of publication, reports suggested the U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Binance for violating U.S. sanctions on Russian entities. Binance chief strategy officer Patrick Hillmann announced on July 6 he would be leaving the firm, reportedly in response to the DoJ probe.
Though it’s one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, Binance has no brick-and-mortar headquarters. Reports have suggested that CZ has had a home in Dubai since 2021, but the SEC had difficulty issuing the CEO a legal summons in June.
Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino explained that if the hacking group was telling the truth, they would have asked for a ransom, but he “couldn’t find any request.”
The symbolism of Labour taking the West Midlands mayor, a jewel in the Tory crown, could be felt in the room as Labour activists gathered in Birmingham to celebrate the win with their new mayor Richard Parker and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.
There are moments on election journeys when the momentum shifts – and this win felt like one of them.
“We humbly asked [the voters] to put their trust and confidence in a changed Labour Party and they did. And that is a significant piece of political history that we’ve made here today,” said Sir Keir at his victory rally.
“So the message out of these elections, the last now the last stop before we go into that general election, is that the country wants change.
“I hope the prime minister is listening and gives the opportunity to the country to vote as a whole in a general election as soon as possible.”
This win gave them the boost that was missing when they won the Blackpool South by-election on a massive 26-point swing, but then failed to pick up the hundreds of council seats they were chasing.
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This win, on just 1,508 votes or 0.25 per cent of the vote, was a body blow for a Conservative party that believed they could just about cling on. Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, is now the last Tory standing.
For Labour, then a moment to bookmark.
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Just as Boris Johnson’s Hartlepool by-election win in 2021 was a low point for Sir Keir – he told me this week that he considered resigning over the loss because he thought it showed he was the barrier to Labour’s recovery – this too will feel devastating not just for Andy Street but for the PM too.
Labour has beaten him in a street fight. He’s bloodied with Sir Keir now emboldened.
“This was the one result we really needed,” said one senior Labour figure. “It’s been our top focus for the past week and symbolically a very important win.”
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Analysis of local election and mayoral results
And Labour needed the boost, because, as Professor Michael Thrasher pointed out in his Sky News’ national vote share projection calculated from the local election results, Sir Keir was not picking up the sort of vote share that Tony Blair was winning in the run-up to the 1997 Labour landslide.
His latest calculation of a 35% vote share for Labour and 26% for the Tories, put Sir Keir winning a general election but short of a majority.
What the West Midlands mayoral win did for Sir Keir was to give him a clear narrative that he is coming for the Tories and will do what he needs to take them down.
It raises inevitable questions about what is next for Rishi Sunak. The prime minister had nowhere to go today, not one win to celebrate. The worst performance in council elections in 40 years, was already pretty much as bad as it gets before the loss of Andy Street. The former Conservative mayor was magnanimous towards the prime minister, saying the loss was his alone.
But colleagues will not be so generous. One former cabinet minister said this loss was “devastating”. “We’re done and there’s no appetite to move against him,” said the senior MP. Many Tories tell me they are now resigned to defeat and believe Mr Sunak and his team needed to own it, rather than the rest of the party.
The coming days might be bumpy, the mood will be stony. But Tories tell me not much will actually change for them.
For Sir Keir, he now needs to sell not the changed Labour Party, but his vision for changing the country. The West Mids mayor’s win was dazzling, but it could have so easily gone the other way. And as Mr Sunak fights to survive, Labour still has to fight hard to win.