SA Regulators has warned Binance is not authorized to provide Financial Service

South African financial regulator issues warning about Binance over financial advice and intermediary services that the company is not authorized to provide such services. A Binance spokesperson told the media that it does not offer any such services.

On Friday, the Finacial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) of South Africa issued a warning against crypto exchange operator Binance Group, saying that the company is not authorized to provide financial advice or intermediary services.

“The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) warns the public to be cautious and vigilant when dealing with BINANCE GROUP as they are not authorized to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services in terms of the Financial Advisory. And Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS Act) in South Africa.”

The regulator said in its notice dated September 3 when reached for comment. A Binance spokesperson told media outlets.

“We would like to take this opportunity to clarify that Binance.com does not provide financial advice. Or render any intermediary services.”

For the Telegram group, the spokesperson said Binance has no official Binance South Africa Telegram community, “which promotes blockchain education and community announcements. It is not intended, nor does it provide any financial advice” the spokesperson said Binance does not have an entity named Binance Group based in Seychelles. The FSCA said that “crypto-related investments are currently not regulated by the FSCA or any other body in South Africa.”

The Binance spokesperson referenced something it has stated in the past and this state of affairs. Further said that the firm is “committed to taking collaborative approach in working with regulators and law enforcement globally.” And that it is a “voluntary self-disclosure institution” with South African Financial Intelligence Centre. “As a member of this programmed, Binance complies with the FIC Act obligations relating to establishing and verifying of clients’ identities, record keeping and reporting suspicious or unusual transactions in terms of section 29 of the FIC Act,” the spokesperson said. South Africa joins the list of countries whose regulators have issued warnings about Binance and its entities or have taken action against it, including Singapore, the U.K., Italy, Japan, Thailand, and Canada. Binance is also reportedly under investigation by the U.S. government. Meanwhile, in South Africa, this coming after a series of crypto scams by two different crypto trading platform operators disappeared with users worth millions of dollars.

The founder of Africacrypt, a cryptocurrency trading platform, Ameer and Raees Cajee, have reportedly disappeared with Bitcoin worth $3.6 billion from their cryptocurrency investment platform. South Africans have been experienced persistent scams that ravage the crypto sector. Last year, a notable scam, described as the world’s biggest cryptocurrency scam, was a jolt to South Africa’s crypto market. It was a turning point in the booming cryptocurrency industry. Until a suspected Ponzi scheme may have caused investors, traders to lose as much as $1.2billion worth of the most famous cryptocurrency (Bitcoin).

A Mirror Trading Investment was placed in provisional liquidation in December 2020 and has since been described as the world’s biggest crypto crime last year by Blockchain researcher Chain analysis. The crypto firm allegedly collected over 23,000 Bitcoin from investors, and its CEO fled to Brazil.