The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance is trying to woo France



The illustration was taken on August 6, 2021.

After a year of regulatory scrutiny, the company is increasing its presence in France.

The world's largest exchange is financing a 100 million euro initiative with an industry group in France to support the criptocurrency sector.

The initiative will see a research and development office established in France and an incubator program for start-ups and training programs.
The aim of Objective Moon is to nurture and accelerate an ecosystems. David Princay, the French GM of Binance, told CNBC that you cannot do it alone.

He wants to open an R&D office to capture the talent and to have more capabilities to grow. One step that we need to go for our next evolution is an R&D center.

OpenClassroom is an edtech company that is involved in the development of educational programs.

France may prove to be a good place to launch the initiative. Lydia and Qonto have received large funding rounds this year, according to figures from Dealroom.

The relationship with regulators across the globe has been difficult. The Financial Conduct Authority in Britain and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating it. The company shut down its trading platform in Singapore and ended the trading of its digital stock token.

While its roots are in China, the company has shied away from pinning itself down to any one location.

The CEO of the company, Changpeng Zhao, has spoken out in favor of regulation and has expressed an interest in France as an official base of operations.

He was tight lipped on whether the company's significant investment in France was a sign that it was going to establish its formal headquarters there.

The company has made moves in the country that have not gone unnoticed. The governor of France's central bank said last month that if the company wanted to set up operations in the country, they needed to have strong anti-money Laundering checks in place.

France's digital minister was present at the announcement of Objective Moon.

dric O has been very clear with us, they are welcome to see us and to have us, but they are also very exigent and that's for the better He said that there are discussions with regulators in France.

He said that the regulation for cryptocurrencies in France and Europe was a positive sign for innovation. When we pass it is going to be a sign of trust and compliance because we need to be fully scrutinized and audited.

We want to be 100% compliant in every activity and country we operate.

Regulation is trying to catch up with businesses that use cryptocurrencies. The EU will be the next big challenge for the industry.

The European Council recently approved the MiCA, which will introduce investor protection and expand the licensing and passporting of firms in the bloc. The European Parliament will discuss it in the coming months.

The company's educational content efforts are led by the editor-in-chief.

She told CNBC that the initiative was signed by the company to increase awareness of the concept of Web3 in its home market. She said that educational programs are for the greater good of the industry as they have moved much faster than traditional curricula.

She said that if we want to get to mainstream adoption and have individuals have the education they deserve, then we need to come together as businesses.

Education in web3 should not be something that is held against one another, it should be open to any person that wants to learn about this space.