Binance UK office one of 2,403 companies sharing ‘utility closet’ in Suffolk
The United Kingdom-registered address for an entity of one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, Binance, is nothing but a tiny building in Britain’s east that is shared by thousands of other companies.
On June 19, a post on the r/buttcoin subreddit showed the so-called “utility closet” Binance Ltd and thousands of other firms use as a registered office address in the U.K. — a tactic often used by other tech firms and large companies.
Binance Ltd’s address points to the small town of Mildenhall in Suffolk county, England. Google Maps shows the site is a small, nondescript garage building on the outer edge of the town about an hour and a half's drive from Britain’s capital London.
Companies House — the government's company’s registrar — shows Binance Ltd shares the address with 2,403 active companies in total.
The address is actually the site of a company called OfficeServ, a virtual registered address service provider which aims to give a “believable business location,” as per its website.
Companies House shows Binance Ltd is registered to provide ”other service activities not elsewhere classified.” Binance has around six entities in Britain across various addresses registered to provide IT and financial services.
Related: Binance cancels registration for inactive business in the UK
Cointelegraph contacted Binance for more information on the entity but did not immediately receive a response.
Technology companies have employed such virtual “shell” addresses around the world and in the United States for years. These are used for a host of reasons - from providing privacy, obscuring patent filings or registering a business in a corporate tax haven.
Most notable is the Corporation Trust Company, the world’s largest
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