Nearly 1,700 UK Investors Sue Binance and Changpeng Zhao for at Least £150 Million

Nearly 1,700 British investors have filed a claim in the High Court of London against Binance and its co-founder Changpeng Zhao, seeking at least £150 million, or about $200 million. The case matters for high-risk payment and crypto operators because it centers on whether a platform can be exposed to restitution claims for offering regulated products without the right FCA license.

1. According to the claimants, Binance began offering and promoting crypto derivatives to UK retail investors from the end of 2019 without authorization from the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The products cited include futures, options, and leveraged tokens.
2. The investors’ lawyers at KP Law say the case rests on the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA). Their argument is straightforward: transactions carried out or promoted without an FCA license may be treated as void, which would give clients a right to recover invested funds and claim damages.
3. The filing says the FCA banned the sale of crypto derivatives to retail investors in January 2021, calling these instruments too risky. The regulator said the restriction was meant to prevent customer losses each year, but the claimants argue access through Binance continued after the ban took effect.
4. KP Law says many investors lost tens of thousands of pounds, with some losses running into the millions. That is the kind of number that turns a regulatory breach into a very expensive piece of litigation.
5. Besides Changpeng Zhao, the defendants include Binance Holdings, incorporated in the Cayman Islands, Nest Exchange, incorporated in the United Arab Emirates, and unnamed individuals said by the claimants to run the platform. Binance said it intends to defend its position in court and that it remains committed to its users and to operating in accordance with the law.

This is not Binance’s only derivatives headache. Earlier, an Australian federal court fined Binance Australia Derivatives 10 million Australian dollars, about $6.9 million, for misconduct in providing crypto derivatives trading services. The regulator said the platform’s conduct led to multimillion-dollar client losses and excessive fees.