Binance is technically accessible to UK users but it is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The FCA shut down Binance's UK entity, Binance Markets Limited, in June 2021 and ordered it to cease regulated activity. UK users who access Binance.com are using a platform that operates outside FCA oversight — meaning you have no recourse under the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), no access to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and the FCA has issued explicit consumer warnings about the platform. Binance remains the largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, has paid a $4.3 billion DOJ settlement and installed a compliance-focused CEO. Whether that is sufficient for a UK user is a risk judgement only you can make. This is information, not financial advice.
FCA regulatory status: what UK users must understand
This is not buried in a footnote on Exchange Atlas — it is the first thing you need to know. Binance Markets Limited, Binance's registered UK entity, was ordered by the FCA to cease all regulated activity in the United Kingdom in June 2021. The FCA stated that Binance Markets Limited was not permitted to undertake any regulated activity in the UK. The entity voluntarily withdrew its application for FCA authorisation.
Binance.com — the global platform most UK users actually access — is a separate entity from Binance Markets Limited. It is not registered with, supervised by, or authorised by the FCA. The FCA has issued and maintains a consumer warning about Binance, which you can read directly on the FCA register at register.fca.org.uk.
What this means practically: if Binance.com halts your withdrawals, mishandles your funds, or goes insolvent, you have no regulatory recourse in the UK. You cannot claim under the FSCS (which protects UK bank and investment accounts up to £85,000). You cannot escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You are an unsecured creditor of a non-UK entity, and the $4.3 billion DOJ settlement that resolved Binance's US legal issues does not restore UK regulatory standing.
The FCA's position has not materially changed since 2021. Verify the current FCA consumer warning and register entry at register.fca.org.uk before depositing any funds.
The 2023 DOJ settlement: what happened and what changed
In November 2023, Binance and its founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) reached a settlement with the US Department of Justice, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and other regulators. Binance pleaded guilty to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, including failures to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering programme and processing transactions that violated US sanctions. The total settlement was $4.3 billion — the largest corporate penalty in DOJ history at the time.
CZ personally pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering programme. He served four months in a US federal prison and was released in September 2024. As a condition of the settlement, CZ stepped down as CEO in November 2023.
Richard Teng, a former regulator with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Abu Dhabi's FSRA, became CEO. Binance has since stated it is investing heavily in compliance, has appointed a compliance monitor as required by the DOJ settlement, and is pursuing regulatory licences in multiple jurisdictions. It holds a VASP licence in Dubai (VARA), among other jurisdictions.
The settlement resolved US federal criminal liability. It did not restore Binance's standing with the FCA. UK users should read the settlement terms and the DOJ press release directly — links are in our sources below — rather than rely on Binance's own characterisation of the outcome.
GBP deposits and withdrawals: the practical picture for UK users
When the FCA acted in 2021, Binance removed GBP deposit and withdrawal options for UK users. As of mid-2026, Binance does not offer direct GBP bank transfer deposits via Faster Payments or CHAPS for UK retail users. This is a direct and tangible consequence of its UK regulatory status.
UK users who want to fund a Binance account typically do so by: (1) purchasing crypto on a UK FCA-registered exchange such as Coinbase, Kraken, or Gemini, then transferring the crypto to their Binance wallet; or (2) using a third-party payment processor that may accept GBP, subject to that processor's own terms and availability.
This friction is worth quantifying. Moving funds from a UK bank to Binance involves at least one additional step, one additional set of transaction fees, and the security risk of a cross-exchange transfer. If GBP access is important to you, Binance is currently not the most practical option for UK users — Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini all maintain FCA registration and offer GBP funding rails. Verify current deposit options directly on Binance.com before funding, as they change without notice.
Fees: what UK users actually pay
Binance's standard spot trading fee is 0.10% maker and 0.10% taker — among the lowest headline rates of any major centralised exchange. By comparison, Coinbase Advanced charges up to 0.40% taker at the lowest volume tier, and Kraken charges 0.25% taker at standard rates.
BNB discount: if you hold and elect to pay fees in Binance's native token (BNB), you receive a 25% fee reduction — bringing standard spot fees to 0.075% maker / 0.075% taker. This is a meaningful saving for active traders, but it introduces BNB price risk and does not change the underlying regulatory picture.
Withdrawal fees vary by asset and network. Binance typically offers one of the widest network selections of any exchange — for example, USDT withdrawals are available via TRC-20 (Tron), typically around $1, versus ERC-20 (Ethereum) which can run $5–$15 depending on gas. Always compare the fee for your specific asset and network before withdrawing.
There are no direct GBP deposit fees from Binance's side because GBP deposits are not currently available. The cost of the workaround — buying crypto on another exchange first — depends on that exchange's fees and the spread at the time.
VIP tiers reduce fees significantly for high-volume traders (based on 30-day volume), but those rates are not representative for most retail users. The fee comparison above uses the standard retail tier, which is what the majority of UK users will pay.
Products available to UK users
Binance.com offers an extensive product suite. UK users can access spot trading (850+ trading pairs), Binance Earn (staking, savings, liquidity products), Binance Pay (crypto payments), the Binance NFT marketplace, and Launchpad (new token launches). Futures and options trading are available on the global platform, though the UK's FCA has banned the sale of crypto derivatives to retail consumers — a UK user accessing Binance.com's derivatives products is accessing them outside any UK regulatory perimeter.
The FCA ban on crypto derivatives (CFDs, futures, options on cryptoassets) for retail consumers has been in force since January 2021. It applies to UK-authorised firms. Binance.com is not a UK-authorised firm, so the ban does not bind Binance operationally — but it reflects the UK regulatory view that these products are inappropriate for retail consumers. If you access Binance.com derivatives as a UK retail user, you are doing so without FCA consumer protections and in an area the FCA has explicitly restricted domestically.
Proof of reserves and custody
Post-FTX, the question of whether an exchange holds the assets it claims became existential for the industry. Binance publishes a Merkle tree proof-of-reserves programme — but there is relevant history to understand. Mazars, the auditor Binance engaged for PoR after FTX, withdrew from all crypto-sector engagements in December 2022, citing the need for more context around its attestation work. Binance subsequently engaged other firms.
A credible proof-of-reserves requires third-party verification of both assets (the exchange's wallet balances) and liabilities (customer account balances). An asset-only attestation — where an auditor confirms wallet balances but not that those balances cover customer claims — is not sufficient. Verify the current PoR report on Binance.com, check the auditor name, confirm the audit date, and look for liability-side coverage before relying on it.
Binance has stated publicly that it holds assets in excess of customer liabilities and that it does not lend customer funds. These are meaningful commitments. The DOJ settlement required appointment of an independent compliance monitor, which adds external oversight — though that monitor's remit is AML/compliance, not solvency attestation. For UK users with no FSCS backstop, custody transparency deserves close scrutiny.
Security features
Binance has a material security history: a $40 million Bitcoin hack in May 2019, from which it covered user losses via its SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users) emergency insurance reserve. No major user-fund hack has been publicly reported since. Binance states it keeps the majority of customer assets in cold storage, but it does not publish a real-time cold storage ratio — that is common across the industry, not unique to Binance.
Security features available to UK users include: two-factor authentication (authenticator app and hardware key); withdrawal address whitelisting (adds a 24-hour delay before funds can be sent to a new address); anti-phishing codes on emails; and device management with session control. Enable every available layer before funding the account. The SAFU fund is self-reported at $1 billion; it is not an insurance product and has no independent verification of its current balance.
Binance.com also runs a bug bounty programme. The most important security step for any Binance user is hardware-key 2FA and withdrawal whitelisting — not relying on the platform's insurance fund as a safety net.
Alternatives for UK users who want FCA-registered exchanges
If FCA registration matters to you — and for most UK retail users it should, given what it represents in terms of regulatory oversight and recourse — there are credible alternatives that maintain UK regulatory standing and offer GBP deposit options.
Coinbase is registered with the FCA for UK cryptoasset activity and offers GBP bank transfer deposits. Coinbase is also Nasdaq-listed, which provides the most transparent reserve picture of any major exchange via SEC-reported quarterly financials. Kraken holds FCA registration and FCA e-money authorisation and offers GBP deposits. Gemini is FCA registered and maintains SOC 2 Type II security certification. All three offer competitive spot trading fees, though none quite matches Binance's standard 0.10% rate.
These exchanges do not offer the breadth of altcoins, DeFi products, or VIP fee tiers that Binance does at scale. The trade-off is real: Binance's product range is unmatched, and its fees at standard tier are among the lowest of any major exchange. Whether that trade-off is acceptable depends on your use case, your risk tolerance, and what you need from a regulated domestic framework.
Verify FCA registration of any exchange on register.fca.org.uk — including Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini — before depositing. Registration can change.
Frequently asked questions
Is Binance legal in the UK?
Binance.com is accessible to UK users and is not explicitly banned, but it is not authorised or regulated by the FCA. The FCA shut down Binance's UK entity, Binance Markets Limited, in June 2021 and issued a consumer warning about Binance that remains active. Using Binance.com as a UK user means operating outside the UK's regulatory perimeter, with no FSCS protection and no access to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Verify the current FCA position on register.fca.org.uk. This is information, not financial advice.
Is Binance FCA regulated in the UK?
No. Binance Markets Limited, the UK entity, was ordered to stop regulated activity by the FCA in June 2021 and voluntarily withdrew its registration application. Binance.com, the global platform, is a separate entity that is not FCA authorised or registered. The FCA has issued a consumer warning about Binance. Check the FCA register at register.fca.org.uk for the current position.
Can UK users still use Binance after the FCA action?
Yes, UK users can still access Binance.com — the global platform was not banned from UK users. What happened is that Binance Markets Limited (the UK entity) was required to cease regulated activity. UK users accessing Binance.com do so without FCA regulation, without FSCS protection, and without Financial Ombudsman access. GBP deposit options were also removed when FCA acted.
What are Binance's fees for UK users?
Binance's standard spot trading fee is 0.10% maker and 0.10% taker. Holding and paying fees in BNB reduces this by 25% to 0.075% maker / 0.075% taker. There are no direct GBP deposit fees because GBP bank deposits are not currently available to UK users. Withdrawal fees vary by asset and network — USDT via TRC-20 is typically around $1, versus $5–$15 via ERC-20. Check Binance.com for current fee schedules as they are updated regularly.
Can I deposit GBP on Binance in the UK?
No. Binance removed GBP deposit and withdrawal options for UK users following FCA action in 2021. UK users typically fund Binance accounts by purchasing crypto on a UK FCA-registered exchange (such as Coinbase, Kraken or Gemini) and transferring it to Binance, or via third-party payment processors subject to their own availability. Verify current deposit options on Binance.com before funding.
What happened to Binance in 2023?
In November 2023, Binance pleaded guilty to violations of the US Bank Secrecy Act and paid a $4.3 billion settlement with the DOJ and FinCEN — the largest corporate penalty of its kind at the time. Founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) personally pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to maintain adequate anti-money laundering controls, served four months in federal prison, and stepped down as CEO. Richard Teng, a former regulator, became CEO. The settlement resolved US federal criminal liability but did not restore Binance's UK FCA standing.
Am I protected by the FSCS if Binance loses my funds?
No. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) does not cover cryptoassets, and Binance.com is not a UK-authorised firm. If Binance.com became insolvent or halted withdrawals, UK users would have no FSCS claim and no access to the Financial Ombudsman Service. You would be an unsecured creditor of an entity operating outside the UK regulatory perimeter.
Is Binance safe to use in 2026?
Binance is the largest crypto exchange in the world by trading volume, has survived a significant regulatory and legal crisis, and publishes proof-of-reserves data. It also operates without FCA authorisation for UK users, has a prior DOJ criminal conviction, a 2019 hack it covered via its SAFU fund, and no FSCS backstop for UK users. 'Safe' depends on what risks matter to you. Verify Binance's current PoR report (including the auditor and date), enable 2FA and withdrawal whitelisting, and only deposit what you can afford to lose. This is information, not financial advice.
Sources & further reading
An independent publisher mapping the regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges. Our editorial desk verifies every licence and availability claim against primary sources — the ESMA MiCA register, the FCA register, ASIC, MAS, VARA and each exchange's own terms — and never accepts payment for a better assessment or placement. We publish information only; nothing here is financial advice.