Binance Is Closing The Trading Platform In Singapore By February

Binance is closing the trading platform branch in Singapore by February as it withdrew its application for a local license in the country as we reported recently in our Binance news.

The unexpected move by the Singaporean branch of the exchange ended in an effort that started last year to gain approval from the Singaporean authorities. Binance Is closing the trading platform by February as Binance Asia said in an email statement sent to Bloomberg. The exchange didn’t provide more details about the decision and why they are backing away from the crypto-friendly country but it only said it would refocus the local unit’s operations on becoming the best blockchain innovation hub.

According to Bloomberg, one spokesperson of Binance Asia said that the exchange provided a plan for the cessation of services and allow customers more time to seek alternative providers or liquidate their holdings if they want to. Binance was among the 170 companies which applied to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a license to provide crypto services. Richard Teng, the CEO of binance’s Singapore entity said:

“We always put our users first, so our decision to close Binance.sg was not taken lightly. I am grateful to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its ongoing assistance to Binance Asia Services and we look forward to future opportunities to work together.”

Until now, Binance was operating under a temporary exemption during the licensing process and the MAS said that the applicants operating under the exemption will be required to cease providing these kinds of regulated payment services. Chia Hock Lai as the co-chairman of the Blockchain Association of Singapore said:

“Not all crypto activities are regulated, and increasingly big crypto players might want to consider having distinctly regulated and unregulated entities, to optimize their revenue and partnership models across different jurisdictions.”

Due to a clear regulatory and operating outlook, Singapore is a popular location for the crypto company. The city-state is among the forerunners across the world in developing a formal licensing network. Founded in China in 2017, Binance Holdings hasn’t set up a headquarters yet but according to the website, Binance’s main platform managed to record a daily trading volume of $2 billion with more than 1.4 million transactions per second. Binance’s Co-founder Changpeng Zhao said that the Singapore branch made an investment in HG Exchange which is a private securities exchange that will give the branch a post-money stake of 18% in the Exchange that was granted a recognized Market Operator license by MAS but the deal will still be a subject to regulatory requirements.

Cryptocurrencies extended the decline after this decision and Bitcoin as the biggest cryptocurrency fell by 3.4% to about $48,284 and ETH Dropped by 4.1%.