Binance Becomes the First Crypto Platform to Win a Global License from ADGM

Binance has announced a major regulatory breakthrough, confirming that it received full authorization from Abu Dhabi Global Market's Financial Services Regulatory Authority to operate its global platform under what the company described as one of the most comprehensive supervisory frameworks ever implemented for a digital-asset exchange.

The approval establishes a regulated structure for Binance.com and marks a major turning point in the exchange's efforts to adhere more fully with traditional financial-market standards.

According to Binance, the license brings in a new three-entity model, segregating its core business operations into trading, clearing, and custody, and off-exchange brokerage. It adds that the structure is designed to provide the operational transparency, separation of governance, and risk controls common in licensed financial institutions. This, in effect, places its platform under the ADGM regime as its most regulated international operation until now.

Binance said Nest Services Limited, which will operate under the name Nest Exchange Limited shortly, has been cleared as a Recognised Investment Exchange, permitted to operate a Multilateral Trading Facility. This unit will oversee on-exchange activity including spot markets, as well as derivatives like perpetual and futures contracts, which make up the lion's share of global crypto trading volume.

Nest Clearing and Custody Limited has been approved as a Recognized Clearing House. According to Binance, the firm will provide custody, clearing, settlement and central securities depository (CSD) functions for digital assets, acting as the backbone of a segregated market-infrastructure model. The company emphasizes that this is a move toward reinforcing asset protection and reducing operational conflicts between trading and custody activity.

The third component, BCI Limited, is going to be renamed to Nest Trading Limited and is supposed to operate as a broker-dealer according to the new structure. Binance explains that the entity would manage off-exchange business including OTC trading, conversions, brokerage activity and asset-management products created for institutional and high-volume clients.

Binance contends that such a reorganization of its business helps improve internal governance boundaries and aligns its operational structure more closely with the model underpinning many established exchanges and clearing houses. According to the firm, such an architecture serves to enhance user protection by ensuring that trading, custody, and brokerage functions are separated with well-defined responsibilities, overseen under the regulatory watch of ADGM.

In its statement, Binance noted that the approval contributes to long-term regulatory certainty and better equips it to service users in various jurisdictions. It also views the ADGM framework as aligned with the international benchmarks applied in financial markets, which, according to the company, will further help ensure more coherent compliance practices within its global presence.

Binance Co-CEO Richard Teng emphasized that the authorization represents a major milestone for the exchange. He noted that “Achieving regulatory status through ADGM’s respected framework reflects our deep commitment to compliance, transparency, and user protection. ADGM is one of the most respected financial regulators globally, and holding an FSRA license under their gold standard framework shows that Binance meets the highest international standards for compliance, governance, risk management, and consumer protection.”

Teng further explained that the newly granted license “provides the regulatory clarity and legitimacy needed to support our global operations from ADGM,” adding that although Binance continues to operate as a globally distributed organization driven by talent across regions, this regulatory structure ensures users can rely on a platform built on “a globally recognized, gold-standard framework.”

ADGM, which has developed a reputation for building structured, comprehensive rules for virtual-asset activities, is expected to oversee the platform under a framework designed to regulate everything from exchange conduct to clearing obligations and the management of user assets. Binance notes that the new system provides regulatory clarity that has historically been lacking for globally distributed crypto platforms, where jurisdictions often apply inconsistent expectations.

The company also said that operations under the new regulatory structure will start on January 5, 2026, after final system readiness checks and in coordination with ADGM. According to Binance, for users, the transition will mean heightened protection and more operational transparency. Customers will continue to use the Binance.com user interface, but the market infrastructure underpinning will be governed by the newly approved entities.

More broadly, the development marks an emerging shift in how the largest crypto platforms choose to organize their services as regulatory expectations evolve globally. While historically, growth in the digital-asset markets has outpaced regulatory frameworks, many jurisdictions are designing increasingly detailed rules for exchanges, custody providers, market-infrastructure operators, and brokers. Against this backdrop, Binance's move toward a fully segregated and regulated model suggests that major industry players may increasingly adopt structures resembling those of traditional financial institutions.

The permit given to Binance adds momentum to the growing ecosystem of digital assets in the UAE, at a time when ADGM continues positioning itself as a global center for regulated crypto activity. The region has heavily invested in building robust licensing systems for fintech and virtual-asset firms so as to attract international companies that seek clarity and supervisory stability. For Binance, the approval offers a pathway toward rebuilding regulatory trust, strengthening governance, and establishing more predictable oversight for its most-widely-used platform.

As the new model takes effect in 2026, the company will move into another phase of its operations one defined less by global expansion and more by structural reform and regulatory alignment. The effectiveness with which the three-entity system serves Binance's interests over the longer term, whether users welcome the augmented regulatory infrastructure, and if this indeed suggests a broader precedent for the global digital-asset industry-all these will become clear in the coming year.