Crypto exchange Binance will halt British pound sterling deposits and withdrawals starting May 22. This will likely remain till it finds another server.
In an email sent to customers on Monday, the firm explained that customers won’t be able to use GBP as their account on- or off-ramps because Skrill Limited, the U.K.-based partner Binance uses for Faster Payments Service transactions, will no longer support it.
As of Monday afternoon, new users will be unable to open accounts on the exchange with GBP deposits, a spokesperson told Decrypt in an email. But they said existing users can still access their GBP balances.
“This change affects less than 1% of Binance users,” the spokesperson said in an email. “However, we know that these services are valued by our users and our team is working hard to find an alternative solution for them. We will share updates on this as and when we are able.”
The exchange has had unstable support for GBP.
The company first added GBP trading pairs in 2020, ahead of launching its U.K.-based trading platform. At the time, UK citizens could convert fiat to crypto on Binance through Binance Jersey, an exchange based on an island between England and France that has low tax rates.
But in June 2021, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ordered Binance Markets Limited, the company’s UK-based entity, to stop “any regulated activities” without prior written consent.
