NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) – Binance, the global blockchain company behind one of the world’s largest digital asset exchanges, ukubuyekezwa kwenkampani ye-binance said on Wednesday it will launch a cryptocurrency trading platform in the UK this summer.
The trading venue was designed to allow both institutional and retail investors to buy and sell cryptocurrencies using pounds and euros, Binance said.It will be regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority.
Up to 65 digital assets are being considered to be available at the launch.
Institutional interest in cryptocurrencies has increased. A recent Fidelity survey of 800 institutional investors found that nearly 80% see the appeal of digital assets and more than one-third are invested in the market.
The UK platform will provide deposits and withdrawals for buying and selling digital currencies through direct bank transfers via the UK Faster Payments Service and the Single Euro Payments Area network, the company said.
“Interest and participation in the UK digital asset markets is growing; not just in-depth with its current participants, but also in breadth,” Binance UK Director Teana Baker-Taylor told Reuters.
“As crypto services mature and evolve, we’re able to create new options to engage and capture interest from a wider audience with varying risk appetites, such as products that earn a yield for participation, like staking and passive savings,” she said.
Over the years, Binance has established joint ventures with leading global partners in Singapore, Korea, Uganda, Jersey and the United States to create fiat-to-cryptocurrency trading platforms.
Binance said institutional clients have increased their presence in its trading platform.The number of institutional clients Binance added in the first quarter grew 47.4% from the last quarter of 2019.
Institutional client volumes have also jumped, up 113% in the first quarter from the previous quarter on spot transactions, while surging 217% on the futures side, Binance said.(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Alden Bentley and David Gregorio)
