Now Italy’s After Binance; US DOJ Asks Agencies to Stop Sending the Exchange ‘Thank You’ Letters

The market watchdog of Italy is the latest in a string of global regulators to move against Binance as it said on Thursday that the leading cryptocurrency exchange is not authorized to carry out activities in the country.

Binance Group companies, including the exchange's main website, which offers information in Italian on derivatives and tokenized stocks, are not authorized to provide investment services and activities in Italy, said Consob in a statement.

When making investment choices, savers are asked to verify in advance that “the websites through which they make the investment can be attributed to authorized subjects,” it said.

Binance, meanwhile, yet again maintains that they do not operate out of Italy and that the regulator’s notice has no direct impact on its services.

“We take a collaborative approach in working with regulators, and we take our compliance obligations very seriously,” said a Binance spokesperson.

The regulator also sent a letter to Binance’s lawyers in which it said that it has the power to order the country’s internet providers to stop offering their services to unauthorized investment services providers and that it may order the latter to stop offering their services as well, reported Reuters.

The letter mentions that under the Italian legislation, such unauthorized providers offering investment services and activities “constitutes an illicit activity which is criminally punishable.”

Just last month, Consob’s head said that cryptos' spread without any clear regulation could damage the way the market operates.

Amidst this growing scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sector across the world, with authorities from the US, the UK, Thailand, Germany, Japan, and many others zeroing in on Binance, the US Justice Department is bothered by other agencies sending the exchange Thank You notes for its cooperation.

The DOJ has sent an email this month to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Secret Service, and others demanding agents to stop signing the letters reported Bloomberg citing two people familiar with the matter.

A Binance spokesperson meanwhile said that they have been engaging with law enforcement “to combat cybercrimes,” and “the letters we’ve received acknowledging our assistance speak for themselves.”

The agency, however, argued that the exchange is bound by law to cooperate with criminal investigations; hence, appreciative notes aren’t necessary. Binance is reportedly seeking thank-you notes from federal agencies for helping in probes into illicit funds flowing through its platform.