Binance to End SGD Offerings in Singapore
- Binance has stated that all of its SGD trading pairs and SGD payment options in Singapore will be removed on Friday.
- The announcement was made only days after the Monetary Authority of Singapore added Binance to its investor alert list.
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One of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, Binance, will be limiting its product offerings in Singapore after a warning from local regulators, the exchange said in a blog post on 5 September.
According to the announcement, Binance is planning to remove all of its Singapore dollar (SGD) offerings, including SGD trading pairs and SGD payment options, at the end of this week. In addition, the company plans to remove its Binance mobile app from the Apple and Google Play stores, and also stop all online communication, including its Telegram channel. Binance said in the blog post:
“Binance welcomes developments to our industry’s regulatory framework as they pose opportunities for the market players to have greater collaboration with the regulators. We are committed to working constructively in policy-making that seeks to benefit every user.”
While all of these changes will take place on Friday, Binance has warned Singaporean users to complete all of their SGD-based transactions on the platform by Thursday, and remove “related trade advertisements”, in order to avoid potential trading disputes.
The decision to roll back their product offerings in Singapore came only days after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) warned Binance it could be breaching the Payment Services Act, and placed the exchange on its “investor alert list”. The goal of the list is to make users aware of unregulated platforms, which “may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or regulated by MAS”.
This is not the first time Binance was forced to limit its product offerings in a country. For several months now, regulators around the world have accused the exchange of offering unregulated services in their jurisdictions. The exchange has already ended the support for its stock tokens — which were on the market for only three months — shut down in Malaysia, scaled down its derivatives trading in Europe, and restrict derivatives trading in Hong Kong.
- The popular crypto exchange has decided to sell its business in Russia to CommEX, a crypto exchange business that was officially launched on Tuesday.
- Binance noted that it will fully exit the Russian market, and have no ongoing revenue split or any option to buy back shares in the business.
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- The company said it will be suspending its crypto-backed debit card service in the Middle East on 25 August, and in Latin America by 21 September.
- Although no reason was given for the decision, the company noted that “less than 1% of users” in those regions will be affected by the change.
- A spokesperson said the change was due to the “changing market and user needs”, and that Binance will now be refocusing its resources on its main products and long-term goals.
- Launched in March 2022, Binance Connect helped crypto businesses connect with the traditional finance system, and supported 50 cryptocurrencies and networks such as Visa and Mastercard.