Binance forced to shut products in Singapore due to regulatory pressure
Binance, one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world that has been under a lot of regulatory scrutinies over the last few months, has intimated to its users in Singapore that it was planning to shut down certain products in its Singapore exchange.
This news comes following the intimation from the regulatory authorities in Singapore that the exchange may be found flouting some of the laws in the country. This gave out a message that the exchange needed to roll back its services in Singapore and hence it has now prompted its users that it will stop offering all crypto pairs that trade with the Singapore dollar and also all payment options related to the Singapore dollar would also be removed. It has also advised its users to remove any trade-related ads from their websites and other places to avoid any potential trading disputes.
The exchange has been under a lot of regulatory scrutinies and almost every week, it has been forced to suspend its operations in different countries due to the regulatory pressure. Just last week, it had to shut down its operations in Norway due to the same reason. But as far as Singapore is concerned, it seems to be in a better position. It has recently applied for a license with the Monetary Authority of Singapore under the Payment Services Act, the same Act that it was noted to be breaching, as of last week by the MAS.
The exchange had also appointed a new CEO from Singapore, Richard Teng, for its Singapore arm and it is expected that he would be more in line with the regulatory requirements of the country and would be able to tide over the problems that the exchange is facing in Singapore in due course of time.
It is not only Binance but several old crypto exchanges that started and grew across the world when crypto regulations were scant are now facing the music as the regulators seem to have woken up to the potential of cryptos and have started scrutinizing these exchanges under various existing laws and are also looking to see whether any new laws need to be made to regulate such entities in the future. The exchange to face the brunt has been Binance which has been forced to either comply with new regulators or shut down its operations in many countries including Malaysia, Hong Kong, Britain, Italy, Norway, and others as well.
