The decision to open an office in the UK comes as the firm seeks a more hospitable environment for crypto and the blockchain technology behind it amid a regulatory crackdown in the US.

The U.S. government is expected to rush to sell short-term debt to replenish its Treasury General Account, potentially at yields so high that banks raise deposit rates to compete for funding, reducing interest in riskier assets like equities.

"It started with BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF filing and now others are following," said Edward Moya, a senior market analyst at OANDA. "Who needs regulatory clarity if you see BlackRock making a move?"



NICOSIA, June 14 (Reuters) - Binance's Cyprus unit has applied to be removed from Cyprus' register of crypto asset service providers, the securities regulator website showed on Wednesday, in a move Binance said would allow it to focus on its larger European businesses.

The Cyprus registration allowed Binance to offer spot trading, custody and other services in compliance with Cyprus's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing rules, the exchange has previously said on its website.

James sued CoinEx in February, saying its failure to register before buying and selling tokens such as AMP, LBRY, LUNA and Rally violated the Martin Act, a powerful state law used to fight financial fraud.

"If we expand Dubai to offer services in Saudi Arabia or Bahrain, to jurisdictions where there is no domestic framework required, then those domestic populations are actually getting a windfall benefit because we are regulated by an international regulator," Byun said.

A group of French crypto investors filed a criminal complaint against Binance in December, accusing it of misleading the public and promoting its services before it was legally allowed to do.

June 23 (Reuters) - Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, hit a more than one-year high on Friday, capping a week of gains helped in part by BlackRock's plans to create a bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) despite heightened U.S.

regulatory scrutiny on the digital asset sector.

The lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase Global have increased fears the crypto market's ordeal could be prolonged further after the sector was battered by a string of meltdowns including the bankruptcy of FTX, Binance's biggest competitor, last year.

BRUSSELS, June 23 (Reuters) - Belgium's FSMA regulator on Friday ordered Binance to cease offering any virtual currency services in the country, adding to pressure on the world's biggest cryptocurrency exchange.

The world's largest asset manager will be using Coinbase Custody - an offline storage solution for digital assets - for the ETF, and 币安交易所 the crypto exchange's spot market data for pricing, the report added

>The agency's aggressive policing has sparked a wave of criticism from digital assets firms and advocates on Capitol Hill for what they describe as regulatory overreach

>Crypto exchange EDX Markets, backed by investment firms Charles Schwab, Fidelity and Citadel Securities, also announced earlier this week that it will allow trading on some cryptocurrencies

>(Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath

>Earlier this month, the regulator sued major exchanges Coinbase and Binance in high-profile lawsuits that reverberated through the digital assets industry

>(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe Editing by Helen Popper

>Nigeria's young, tech-savvy population has eagerly adopted cryptocurrencies, for example using peer-to-peer trading offered by crypto exchanges to avoid the financial sector ban

>Simsek said this week that the guiding principles for the economy would be transparency, consistency, accountability and predictability. Erdogan had last week put well-regarded former finance minister Mehmet Simsek back in the post

>"Binance is offering and providing exchange services in Belgium between virtual currencies and legal currencies, as well as custody wallet services, from countries that are not members of the European Economic Area," the FSMA said

>Coinbase Chief Executive Brian Armstrong, an outspoken SEC critic who has led a push in Washington for clearer crypto rules, on Wednesday hit back at Gensler, calling him an "outlier" among Washington policymakers and accusing him of being "icy" when the company approached him about registration

>The crypto industry has attacked Gensler in recent days after the SEC sued two of the world's largest crypto exchanges, Coinbase and Binance, for allegedly breaking securities laws by failing to register their operations with the agency.