Singapore bans Binance

Binance Holdings Ltd., the world’s largest crypto currency exchange, is ordered to stop offering services in Singapore on the basis of a potential breach of local payment rules.

Binance is violating the Payments Services Act for providing payment services to, and soliciting business from Singapore residents without the required license, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) says.

The financial authorities in Singapore have taken the step because Binance did not apply for a license as required under the local legislation and have added Binance.com to its investor warnings list, telling the public that Binance is not licensed and authorized to provide any payment services in Singapore.

Singapore is not the first country to put regulatory pressure on Binance. Similar actions were taken in the U.S., the U.K., Thailand, Malaysia, Canada and Japan, although last week the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK cleared Binance on the grounds that the crypto exchange has taken the appropriate steps to comply with all its regulatory requirements.

Binance Holdings Ltd., which is based in the Cayman Islands, but operates globally, has local subsidiaries in some countries like the U.S. and U.K. and Singapore, where it operates through Binance Asia Services and its website – Binance.sg.

As evident from the Monetary Authority of Singapore registers Binance Asia Services has recently submitted a license application, and is currently exempted from holding a license for the provision of digital payment token services. The application is under review. MAS however, has ordered Binance Asia Services to “immediately begin an orderly suspension of its facilitation of transfers of digital payment token assets” between the Singapore subsidiary and Binance.

“The company’s Singapore operations are conducted by a separate legal entity from Binance.com, with its own local executive and management team, and does not offer any products or services via the Binance.com website or other related entities, and vice versa”, Binance Singapore told Bloomberg.

In a similar move Binance Holdings, which is based in the U.S., has come into the spotlight of an investigation by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on charges related to money laundering and tax offences. The SEC issued a warning against Binance Holdings in April.

News provided by Binance.