The partnership between Binance and France
The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance and France have established and strengthened a strong partnership. Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, has described the French capital Paris as the crypto financial hub in Europe.
During the opening session of Binance Blockchain Week Paris 2022 on September 14, CZ stated that with the strong push for cryptocurrency adoption and other initiatives that the French government is implementing, the cryptocurrency market will “explode” and grow in France over the next five years.
CZ highlighted France’s efforts to reduce taxes and loosen labor laws. Besides, CZ also mentioned the European Union’s cryptocurrency regulations that France will adopt in the near future.
CZ said the EU’s MiCA law is “fantastic” but still strict, especially on stablecoins. However, he still hopes the laws will create a unified cryptocurrency regulatory mechanism for the 27 EU member states and soon become the global standard.
“The drafts are not adopting USD-based stablecoins, which have 75% of the liquidity in the market,” Zhao said.
To overcome the pitfalls, government representatives announced during a session that France will launch a 3-year regulatory sandbox for the cryptocurrency industry from March 2023.
This opens up innovation and flourishes in the French crypto industry and gives crypto startups new opportunities.
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Binance expands market
Binance’s relationship with France has become stronger since 2021. In 2021, Binance partnered with France FinTech, a non-profit association, to launch a €100 million fund to develop the French and European blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystems with the support of digital converters and electronic communications.
In May 2022, Binance was granted a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license by the French capital markets regulator AMF. Binance plans to turn Paris into a European base.
Meanwhile, Binance is also looking to establish a market presence in other countries in Europe and globally. The exchange is currently seeking VASP licenses in Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, and the Philippines.
However, Binance is still struggling with a number of regulators on the continent, and its ambitions to expand in Europe will still face significant resistance from EU MiCA regulations. This could allow more regulated cryptocurrency exchanges like Bitstamp and Coinbase to gain market share ahead of Binance.
