In Brief:
- The move apparently signals that the crypto exchange does not have a license.
- Notably, Binance’s Singapore website Binance.sg is currently not on the investor alert list.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has put Binance.com on the investor alert list. The financial regulator placed Binance on the list on Thursday. Exchange’s Singapore website ie. Binance.sg is currently not on the investor alert list.
A Binance spokesperson reportedly said that Binance.com and Binance.sg are separate exchanges.
“Binance.sg operates in Singapore with its own local executive and management team,” said the spokesperson. “Binance Singapore is backed by Vertex Venture Holdings and is solely focused on growing the Singapore cryptocurrency ecosystem and servicing users in Singapore.”
The investor alert list of the MAS provides a list of unregulated entities. These are the entities that may have been wrongly perceived as being regulated or licensed by the authority.
Binance is facing a series of regulatory restrictions in Southeast Asia. In July, Thailand’s SEC filed a criminal complaint against the platform for operating a digital asset exchange without a license. In early August, Malaysia’s Securities Commission also publicly censured the cryptocurrency exchange for operating illegally in the country.
