Digital Friday >>> Singapore says Binance May Have Breached a Regulation

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Singapore's financial regulator called for cryptocurrency exchange Binance Holdings Ltd. to stop its payment services over a potential law breach.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is of the view that Binance "may be in breach of the Payment Services Act for carrying on the business of providing payment services to, and soliciting such business from Singapore residents without an appropriate license".

The regulatory body has now added Binance to the investor alert list since the company did not apply for a license under local law. The list essentially warns consumers that Binance isn't regulated or licensed to provide any payment services locally.

Binance is currently one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, and claims it has an average daily trading volume of USD 2 billion. However, the company has been under scrutiny even in the past, with various regulatory warnings, investigations and bans in jurisdictions from countries such as Germany, Hong Kong, Italy and Japan.

Binance Asia Services which operates Binance.sg, has now submitted a license application which remains under review and will have to demonstrate that it is able to meet the requirements under the Payment Services Act.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has requested the firm to begin suspending its facilitation of transfers of digital payment token assets between Binance Asia Services and Binance.

Published 3rd September 2021 | 5:27 pm