Binance secures New Zealand registration, opens local office

Binance has registered with New Zealand's Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), allowing it to move forward with setting up a local office. 

“We see New Zealand as a bit of a pioneer, so from that perspective, I think there’s a lot to be learned here with our local team working with Kiwis to envisage the future of currency, transactions and the web," the cryptocurrency exchange's CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) said in a statement.

The registration, which Binance acquired on Sept. 10, will cover activities including NFTs, spot trading and staking. Its local website is now live for New Zealand residents. 

New Zealand's central bank said last year that it would engage in public consultations about topics including digital assets such as bitcoin, stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). 

Binance has been registering locally with financial authorities around the world, including in France, Italy and Spain.

It was recently fined €3.3 million (now about $3.2 million) by The Netherlands's central bank for providing crypto services in the country without registration. Binance said last year that it was planning to apply for registration in the European country, and confirmed after getting fined that it was in the process of applying for registration there.