Tech

Binance could settle permanently in Ireland

The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, is looking for a place to set up its headquarters. It has set up three subsidiaries in Ireland, after the country has just signed an agreement to increase corporate taxes.

Binance, settling in Ireland? According to the Irish newspaper Independent, the cryptocurrency exchange, the largest in the world, may well choose the country to establish itself permanently and officially.

This would be a major novelty for Binance, which until then had always described itself as a platform ” decentralized », Refusing to have a registered office, because« bitcoin does not have any “. But in the face of recent controversies and the growing number of complaints filed against it, Binance seems to have no choice but to compromise, and find a place to settle down for good.

Three branches already established in Ireland

Ireland could be the place Binance will permanently put its bags down. The Irish newspaper Independent revealed that as of September 2021, the platform had established three branches in the country: Binance (APAC) Holdings, Binance (Services) Holdings, and Binance Technologies. Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, is also said to be the manager of the three entities.

The three new companies were officially created on September 27, but the first steps were taken on September 10 and 13, the newspaper said. Their role and their attributions remain for the moment very vague: no information has yet been revealed about them by the company and, apart from the news of their creation, we do not find any trace of them on the Internet. These entities are not, however, the first that Binance owns in the country: Binance (Ireland) Holdings was created in 2020, says the Independent.

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance // Source: Binance

For the moment, these are only a few subsidiaries, but an interview Changpeng Zhao gave to Reuters on October 7 reinforced the thesis of an installation in Ireland. ” Historically, we have always said that we do not have a head office », Explained the CEO to the agency. ” But we are currently in the process of setting up a few headquarters in different parts of the world. “. Asked by Reuters reporters, Changpeng Zaho reportedly confided that Ireland was one of the countries where Binance was planning to settle more seriously.

For now, Binance’s internal organization remains very, very opaque. Despite a few companies registered in various countries around the world, it is not known where its actual headquarters are located. For now, “lThe company’s holdings suggest it is registered in the Cayman Islands, according to English documents and the Malaysian regulator », Indicates Reuters. So it looks like the vagrancy is over for Binance. It remains to be seen whether recent news does not lead Binance to reconsider its choice.

The end of the Irish tax haven?

Ireland is indeed not a country chosen at random. The tax rate is lower there than in many other countries of the European Union, which makes it a destination of choice for large multinationals. The country thus hosts an Apple campus, the international headquarters of Facebook, and the European headquarters of Google. But Ireland may soon no longer be the tax haven that has attracted so many digital giants.

The country announced on October 7 that it would sign an OECD agreement, the aim of which is to set the tax rate on the profits of large companies at a minimum of 15%. This rate is currently 12.5% ​​in Ireland. The agreement would apply to companies with a turnover of more than 750 million euros per year.

Binance’s earnings – like a lot of things about the business – are not public. Nevertheless, Changpeng Zhao had hinted at the end of 2020 that Binance would realize between 800 million and a billion dollars in profit over the year. The exchange platform would therefore be affected by this increase in taxation.

The deal should help tackle tax evasion, and if ratified as planned, it should go into effect as early as 2023. Will the news disrupt Binance’s plans? So far, neither Binance nor Ireland have communicated clearly about a location of the company in the country. But there is no doubt that the change of situation will be closely scrutinized by the exchange platform.

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