After a difficult year, Binance crypto giant is expanding its French presence.

A joint initiative of industry group France FinTech and the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world is being funded by France’s FinTech. This will help to promote France’s blockchain and cryptocurrency sector.

This initiative was announced by Binance in November. It is called Objective Moon. Binance will establish a French research and development office and work with other start-ups on an incubator program. 

Objective Moon’s goal is to create an ecosystem, nurture it and then accelerate its growth. CNBC’s David Princay spoke out as Binance’s French GM.

“We need to be also able to capture the talent and to have more capabilities to grow bigger,” he said of plans to open an R&D office. “Having an R&D center is one step that we need to go for our next evolution.”

Objective Moon is also involving Ledger (a French crypto hardware company recently valued at $1.5billion) and OpenClassroom, an edtech company. They are both involved in developing education programs.

France could be a good place to start the initiative, given its growing fintech scene. According to figures from DealroomWith Qonto, Lydia and Qonto receiving massive funding rounds this year, French fintech investments are on the rise.

Binance had a difficult year with regulators all over the world. One of its problems was a ban by Britain’s Financial Conduct AuthorityA thorough investigation by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The company has also placed an end to the tradingThere are many digital stock tokens that it holds and its Singapore trading platform was shut down recently.

Although its origins are China-based, Binance is not known for being able to pin itself down in any particular location. Instead, Binance relies on the principles of decentralization associated with crypto.

Binance’s tone has changed recently, but CEO Changpeng Zhao spoke out. favor of regulationAnd of the willingness to work with regulatorsWhile expressing your gratitude an interest in FranceIt serves as an office base.

Princay kept his distance on the question of whether Princay’s large investment in France was an indicator that it was time for the firm to establish its formal headquarters. He said, “We don’t have anything yet to add to that.”

But watchdogs are not surprised by the actions of the company in the country. The governor of France’s central bank saidBinance should have strong anti money laundering controls in place before it can set up business in the country.

Cedric O from France was also present at Objective Moon’s announcement with Binance, France FinTech and Binance.

“Cedric O Princay explained to CNBC that they had been clear with us. They are welcome to come and see us. However, they insist that we do so. Princay said that Binance was in talks with French regulators about licensing.

It’s a good sign of innovation,” he stated about regulation in France for crypto. To pass we need to have everything scrutinized thoroughly and audited. That’s a positive sign for innovation, as it will be an indicator of trust and compliance.

Our goal is to comply with all laws and regulations in each country where we work.

The regulation is sometimes playing catch up with crypto businesses. At a European level the next challenge facing the industry will be EU’s Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA).

MiCA was adopted by the European Council recently. This will increase investor protection and allow for more passporting and licensing of crypto-firms in the bloc. The European Parliament will discuss it in the coming months.

She told CNBC that Ledger signed up to the initiative with Binance to increase awareness of crypto, blockchain and Web3 — a broad concept of decentralized web services built on blockchain technologies — in its home market. Because the market has evolved so quickly, she said that providing education programs is “for the greater benefit” of the sector.

“We are very much still at a stage of mainstream curiosity and if we want to get to mainstream adoption and have individuals have the education they deserve — for it to be a secure, seamless and open source future — then we have to come together as businesses to provide that now,” she said.

“Education within web3 should not be a closed process or something held against another. It should be accessible to all who want to learn about it.”