NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - Binance, the global blockchain
company behind one of the world's largest digital asset
exchanges, 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)