The regulatory woes of Binance are far from over as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has become the latest regulator to flag the crypto Exchange by placing Binance.com on the Investor Alert List.
The list added binance.com on Thursday but did not provide any additional details on the inclusion of the crypto exchange.
In general, “the Investor Alert List provides a list of unregulated persons who, based on information received by MAS, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or regulated by MAS.”
Local Entity Is Different
Binance offers its services in the city-state through its local platform Binance.sg, which is operated by Binance Asia Services Pte. Ltd. The Singaporean central bank and the financial regulator is currently reviewing the local entity’s license applications under the Payment Services Act, allowing the company to operate under an exemption for a specified period.
“Binance.sg operates in Singapore with its own local executive and management team,” a Binance spokesperson told the crypto-focused media outlet, The Block. “Binance Singapore is backed by Vertex Venture Holdings and is solely focused on growing the Singapore cryptocurrency ecosystem and servicing users in Singapore.”
The spokesperson also confirmed that the crypto exchange does not offer any services in Singapore via its global platform Binance.com.
Interestingly, the regulator move came only a week after the crypto exchange hired the financial industry veteran, Richard Teng as the CEO of its Singapore unit.
Binance’s troubles with regulators began earlier this year as many issued warnings against the exchange for alleged illegal operations and breach of securities market guidelines. The UK’s FCA, which is among the first regulators to flag Binance, recently said that the British entity of the exchange has become compliant but it is ‘not capable’ of supervising the crypto exchange.
