Coinbase Joins Binance in Having Regulatory Approval in Italy
- Coinbase has been struggling under the current crypto bear market. Recently, investment advisory firm, Goldman Sachs, changed Coinbase’s share rating from “neutral” to “sell.”
Popular crypto exchange with headquarters in San Francisco, Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ: COIN), has announced the securement of regulatory approval from Italy’s financial watchdog. Hence, the crypto firm now has legal permission to operate in Italy. A Coinbase blog post explained why the exchange was celebrating this regulatory approval.
Good Spell for Coinbase
The blog post stated that Italy’s financial regulator (the Organismo Agenti e Mediator, OAM) recently came up with a new set of criteria for all virtual asset providers in the country. The OAM also mandated that all crypto companies (new and existing) with operations on Italian shores must meet these new criteria.
Otherwise, they would no longer be allowed to operate in Italy. Coinbase’s vice president (international and business development), Nana Murugesan, stated that one of Coinbase’s goals when operating in any region is to develop a good relationship with the regulators in such areas. Murugesan further said building such relationships aligns with the company’s goal of providing greater economic freedom to all parts of the world.
He added that this approval is proof of Coinbase’s close partnership and positive relationship with the OAM. Coinbase has a presence in nearly 40 European nations with dedication centers in Germany, the UK, and Ireland. The blog post further revealed that Coinbase has already applied for regulatory approvals in top European markets under the crypto regulations obtainable in those jurisdictions.
Those jurisdictions include the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and France. Coinbase is making such moves to have a more significant presence and extend its services across Europe. Once it obtains regulatory approval in those jurisdictions, Coinbase’s first step would be to launch its suite of products.
On July 1, 2022, Coinbase released a lengthy blog post detailing how it intends to expand into the UK and European markets. One of those steps was meeting with the UK’s decision-makers to have a regional center in Ireland. Currently, Coinbase operates in Ireland and the UK under an e-money license. These licenses enable fintech firms to provide payment services but with certain limitations.
In May, Coinbase’s main competition, Binance, also obtained its regulatory approval from the OAM. Before getting this approval, Binance hadn’t been offering its derivatives services to Italians since July 2021.
The Italian regulator, CONSOB, labeled Binance an unauthorized exchange and prohibited it from providing its operations to Italians. Binance obtained its regulatory approval from the Italian regulator within weeks of obtaining similar approvals from local regulators in France, Dubai, and Bahrain.
A Different Page
Coinbase has been struggling under the current crypto bear market. Recently, investment advisory firm, Goldman Sachs, changed Coinbase’s share rating from “neutral” to “sell.” Coinbase’s share price has been declining over the last couple of months.
The rumor that the company has insolvency issues is also one of the reasons for the drop in its share price. Coinbase shares currently trade at $53.79 on the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Rebecca is a Senior Staff Writer at BitcoinWisdom, working hard to bring you the latest breaking news in the cryptocurrency market. In the words of Elon Musk “Buy stock in several companies that make products & services that *you* believe in. Only sell if you think their products & services are trending worse. Don’t panic when the market does. This will serve you well in the long-term.”
