Today's business and finance round up 28th June 2021
🚫Crypto platform Binance gets banned in the UK
27th June 2021
Good morning
Love Island and Wimbledon return to our screens today for the first time since 2019, a couple of facts on these beloved British institutions:
The Wimbledon prize pot is £35m with the winners of the singles titles walking away with £1.7m each.
Love Island is the most commercialised show on UK TV with nine official partners netting ITV over £12m in sponsorship revenue.
Today's stories
Crypto platform Binance gets banned in the UK
ClearScore nears unicorn status
Friday's market moves
FTSE 100 +0.4% 7,136 FTSE 250 +0.6% 22,646
Markets ended the week up as investors shrugged off inflation worries amidst positive economic data.British manufacturers reporting the strongest growth in output on record over the past three months. The data however added to growing inflation pressures as manufacturers expect shortages in supply to feed through to higher prices in the coming months.
CRYPTOCURRENCYCrypto platform Binance gets banned in the UK
What’s going on?Over the weekend the UK financial watchdog issued a warning against Binance, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, to stop all regulated activity. The company has until Wednesday to remove all advertising and promotion of its products.Why is this important?
Trading in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dogecoin is not directly regulated however products related to them, known as derivatives, are.The FCA said that Binance was offering cryptocurrency derivative services without their permission.The watchdog also included a warning to consumers in their statement saying they should be “ wary of adverts online and on social media promising high returns on investments in cryptoasset or cryptoasset-related products”.Cryptocurrency has come under increasing scrutiny from regulators around the world. Governments are concerned that the industry can potentially play a role in crime.Just last week Scotland Yard seized £114m of cryptocurrencies that were being held by an international criminal gang.Founded in 2017 Binance provides a platform for trading cryptocurrencies and has quickly become the largest in the world. Originally based in China, the company later moved to the Cayman Islands due to the increased Chinese regulation.The UK isn’t the only country to come down on Binance. Authorities in Japan said that the company is not authorised to operate in the country with regulators in the US and Germany also keeping a close eye on the company.
TakeawayMillions of Brits hold cryptocurrency and the FCA is playing catch up trying to regulate the sector.At the start of the year it became compulsory for all companies offering cryptocurrency-related services to register and show they comply with anti-money laundering rules. However, this month the FCA said that just five firms had registered, and that the majority were not yet compliant.
FINTECHClearScore nears unicorn status
British credit scoring app ClearScore is on the verge of unicorn status i.e. becoming a private company with a valuation of $1bn.The company, which gives its 14 million global user base free access to their credit report, just raised $200m of new funding from Invus Opportunities putting its valuation of $700m. The money will go towards growing the workforce, customer base and expanding their product offering.Founded in 2015 and based in London, ClearScore has 11 million UK customers and makes money by taking a fee from the credit cards that it recommends to users. Unlike many of its fintech peers, ClearScore is actually profitable. In 2018, the company agreed to sell itself to Experian, the FTSE100 credit referencing group, for £275m.The deal was abandoned the following year after intervention from the Competition watchdog.
Stat of the day
Around one in five adults in the UK has less than £100 in savings
Other stories to keep you in the loop
Panasonic sells entire stake in Tesla for $3.6bn
BT to use OneWeb satellites for rural internet push
Is Windows 11 the beginning of the end for Skype?
US allows Virgin Galactic to take paying passengers into space
Johnson & Johnson to pay $230m to settle opioid claim
