Cryptocurrency

Binance approved to offer crypto services to Swedish customers

The Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, one of the country’s financial regulatory agencies, has granted the local arm of crypto exchange Binance approval to manage and trade digital currencies.

According to a Jan. 11 announcement, Binance said that following “months of constructive engagement” with the financial regulator, the FSA granted Binance Nordics AB’s registration status on Jan. 10. This decision effectively allows Swedish residents to access Binance’s crypto services.

“Sweden fully adopts EU laws and has further local requirements, so we have been careful to ensure that Binance Nordics AB has adopted risk and AML policies to match this exacting standard,” said Roy van Krimpen, Binance’s lead in the region. ”Our next big task will be the successful migration and launch of local operations, including hiring of local talent, organizing more events and delivering more crypto education in Sweden.”

The decision from Sweden’s financial authority followed regulators in France, Bahrain, Spain and Dubai granting similar approvals for Binance in 2022. Authorities in certain countries — including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Japan — previously cracked down on the exchange’s operations, warning potential investors about the risks surrounding digital assets.

Related: Binance pushes back against report stablecoin isn’t fully backed

On Jan. 10, a U.S. court approved a preliminary deal allowing Binance.US to purchase more than $1 billion in assets from Voyager Digital, which declared bankruptcy in July. FTX had planned to acquire Voyager’s assets prior to its collapse in November, leaving them up for grabs once again.