Binance Withdrew Its Application For License In Singapore: Report

Binance withdrew its application for a license in Singapore after announcing a refocus of the plans in the country so let’s take a closer look in today’s binance news.

Crypto exchange Binance withdrew its application for a licnese in Singapore and the news came amid the announcement from the exchange that it will focus on making its operations in Singapore into a blockchain innovation hub. Binance Asia Services which is a Singaporean entity will lead the mission with the goal of developing the global blockchain ecosystem. The CEO of Binance Singapore Richard Teng noted:

“Singapore is a vibrant fintech hub and Southeast Asia is an important region for us. We plan to make further investments in the region with Singapore as one of the centers for technology, research, and development. We always put our users first, so our decision to close Binance. sg was not taken lightly. Our immediate priority is to help our users in Singapore transition their holdings to other wallets or other third-party services.”

The exchange’s CEO CZ also noted:

“Binance made a sizable investment into regulated exchange HGX last week. This investment made our own application somewhat redundant.”

CZ could have said that the application for a license became redundant but the decision to withdraw its license marks the end of the year as an unsuccessful attempt to gain an appropriate operating license similarly to what happened in the UK. In the middle of the regulatory entanglements of binance, the exchange also ran into issues with the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Binance Asia Services exempt from needing a license under the Singapore Payment Services Act which is because the entity was carrying out activities before the Act took effect in January 2020.

This allowed the MAS to review apps for license and there was never guarantee tht the exchange will be successful in the application:

“We are aware of the actions taken by other regulatory authorities against Binance and will follow up as appropriate with the applicant.”

The MAS spokesperson said that a huge number of companies similar to Binance saw their applications being rejected. One month later, the MAS placed binance on the country’s investor Alert List with entities adding that may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or regulated by MAS.