The Monetary Authority of Singapore placed Binance on its investor alert
list on Sept.1 over concerns that the crypto exchange may have violated
local payments regulations.
Global cryptocurrency exchange Binance announced Sunday that it will
roll back product offerings in Singapore amid warnings from financial
regulators that the company may have violated payments laws.
Beginning
Sept. 9, Singaporeans will no longer be able to trade cryptocurrencies
or receive payments denominated in the Singapore dollar, better known as
SGD, according to a Sunday blog post. The Binance mobile app will also be removed from Singapore’s Apple and Google Play stores.
The exchange said
all SGD trading pairs will be removed at 04:00 UTC on Sept. 9, with
users advised to complete all peer-to-peer trades 24 hours in advance of
the deadline.
The decision by Binance to halt certain product offerings came mere
days after the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, warned that the
exchange may be in breach of the country’s Payment Services Act. Binance
first appeared
on the regulator’s investor alert list on Sept. 1. The list includes
“unregulated persons who, based on information received by MAS, may have
been wrongly perceived as being licensed or regulated by MAS.”
Related: Binance lawsuit: Claimants mount up in arbitration for decentralization
Binance
is facing upheaval from financial authorities all over the world for
allegedly failing to comply with local regulations, such as providing
exchange services without receiving the appropriate licenses. Japan,
Germany, the United Kingdom and the Canadian province of Ontario all cracked down on Binance exchange offerings this summer. More recently, South Africa’s financial regulator warned its citizens that Binance is not authorized to operate in the country.
The
regulatory backlash appears to have attracted negative attention to
Binance US, which operates as a separate legal entity as the global
exchange. As a result, investors have reportedly backed out of a $100 million funding round for the U.S. exchange. The failed funding round may have prompted Brian Brooks to resign as Binance US CEO after just three months at the helm.
Related: Binance denies allegations of market manipulation
Despite
the negative regulatory attention, Binance’s global exchange processes
more trades than any other platform. On Sunday, trade volumes for
Binance were reported at just over $24 billion, according to
CoinMarketCap.
source link : https://cointelegraph.com/news/binance-limits-sgd-product-offerings-in-singapore-amid-regulatory-warnings
