Alliance between Binance and TaoTao falls through

Reports are emerging from Japan that claim the strategic partnership between Binance and trading platform TaoTao have been abandoned

Yesterday, TaoTao announced that negotiations had ended as the two parties failed to reach an agreement. The alliance had consequently been scrapped. The two firms intended to collaborate on a project that would build a crypto trading platform dedicated to Japanese users.

Binance had started discussions with TaoTao and Z Corporation regarding expansion plans in January this year. As of the moment, it is not yet clear why the discussions to realise an agreement did not go as planned.

It has been a long journey for Binance, which has had a difficult time in the Japanese market over the last two years. Back in 2018, Japan’s financial regulator (The Financial Services Agency) sent a warning letter to Binance after discovering the crypto exchange was operating in Japan without a licence.

The warning affected the crypto sector as Bitcoin fell in the following months. This was followed by heightened concerns that increased scrutiny in the crypto industry would curb the virtual assets’ demand.

At the beginning of the year, Binance revealed it would begin restricting access to its exchange among Japanese users. Through a post published on Binance’s Japanese support website on January 15, the exchange said the process would be conducted in phases.

In August this year, it was reported that Binance had a hand in the first crypto seizure in Japan that resulted in the apprehension of a money-laundering group.

Last month, a Japan-based crypto exchange known as Fisco, sued Binance concerning a 2018 hack that saw the Japanese exchange suffer a $60 million loss.  According to Fisco (formerly known as Zaif), Binance knew that stolen funds were being laundered on its platform but still let it happen.