Binance on Shopping Spree as It Plans Acquisition of Traditional Businesses

According to a report published by The Financial Times, Binance is planning the acquisition of non-crypto businesses in order to integrate diverse companies from each economic sector with crypto. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao called this strategy a means to make the crypto economy bigger. One of the reasons for this massive acquisition plan of Binance is a drop in the exchange’s trade volume that is making the exchange branch out and diversify its business. As per Zhao’s claims, the company would target gaming or e-commerce sectors initially, although nothing has been officially confirmed.

The Forbes Investment

Recently, in a display of making the strategy come to life, Binance invested $200 million in the celebrated publishing firm Forbes, a move that makes it one of the only two biggest owners of the company. What comes as a surprise is a fact that the investment went through just over a year after Forbes was sued by Binance. Forbes CEO Mike Ferdele expressed his optimism at the partnership by stating that it has the system, resources and experience of the most successful blockchain firm which is also the world’s largest crypto exchange.

Binance and Its Struggle with FCA  amid Its Acquisition Plan

The most recent Binance activity that has invited the attention of the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the $36 million loan by Bifinity to Eqonex Limited. The regulatory authority has raised concerns over actors within the Binance Group abusing the partnership for the Money Laundering Regulations. Besides, the FCA also expressed its worry about the crypto exchange getting access to the UK’s Faster Payment Service. In the past, the authority has also cited the exchange’s lack of a headquarter as a concern and even called it incapable of being regulated after the exchange failed to share basic information about the company with FCA.

However, this is not the first time Binance has faced the wrath of FCA. In October 2021, Binance became a target as it was criticized by regulators across the globe with several of them, issuing warnings about the cryptocurrency exchange. The company successfully endured the pressure by adopting a proactive stance towards regulatory compliance. Currently, the largest cryptocurrency exchange employs almost a dozen compliance and enforcement professionals to remain aware of the latest regulatory requirements.

Binance was established in 2017 with the mission to become the topmost provider of crypto infrastructure services for the blockchain ecosystem. The cryptocurrency exchange has an average transactional volume of 2 billion/day making it the largest trading exchange globally in terms of size.