Rumors suggest that despite becoming the key location for Binance’s new headquarters, the region is still sitting on a stalemate regarding the approval of crypto trading in retail.
Issues with UCITs
Central Bank is Ireland is still unsure if it wants to give approval for crypto trading for retail investors, as it recently posted a new annual Securities Markets Risk Outlook Report that mentioned multiple risks that could develop for financial service providing firms.
The report specifically mentions that there has been a rise in issues related to Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS), including Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) regarding crypto-based assets, so there is a big chance that the approval process would not be processed, and it would be tough to implement risk assessment for retail investors that are not experienced.
Another thing to be noted is that the European Commission thinks that AIFs are not regulated by UCITS that also included hedge funds, private equity and funds in real estate. UCITs is a directive that is aimed towards retail investors and accounts for nearly three quarters of domiciled funds in Ireland.
Not all Hope is Lost
But despite all the issues mentioned above, the bank still hasn’t removed the ability for exchange-traded products to be circulated around, that are meant for institutional investors and wholesale. The region of Ireland has been seen to attract quite a lot of international investors that include many giants such as, Google, Apple, IBM and several others, marking it as the second most popular region for investing, falling just short of Singapore’s top position.
Director of Securities and Markets supervision at Central Bank of Ireland, Patricia Dunne has stated that the Central Bank is working hard to assure that investment funds are being considered for liquidity in the future and to support investor withdrawals in the case of financial trauma.
Binance Potential Headquarters
Last year, CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao mentioned that Ireland could be the main choice for building its new headquarters, as the company has already established three new business projects in the region that also include Binance Exchange (le).
Changpeng Zhao stated to an Irish news outlet that they currently do not claim to have any headquarters and are still working on developing new headquarters around the world. Upon being asked specifically about Ireland becoming one of the choices for a headquarters, Zhao just responded with a vague “Yes” and did not provide further details.
James Thompson