I generally try to avoid talking about what we go through behind the scenes, but since you have asked and this forum is generally composed of more knowledgeable people, ill spill some.
Generally, businesswise things are starting to pick up, although the Bitcoin userbase per capita in Singapore is one the lowest globally amongst developed English speaking countries (see
http://www.anonymousbitcoinbook.com/2013/09/16/where-is-bitcoin-most-popular/). Add the small population and we are not profitable yet, but it is close to the point of being sustainable.
Banks - It is starting to become common amongst the Bitcoin startup scene to hear DBS denying any Bitcoin related companies an account. I guess they are the first amongst the local banks to see Bitcoin as a threat, although it is naive of them to think that denying bank accounts will hamper bitcoin adoption.
Bank accounts wise, it is a royal pain to obtain and use corporate bank accounts. The paperwork and time to get setup is plain ridiculous(It took close to 3 weeks to get our current account setup). Plus having additional bank accounts further complicates accounting. However if there is sufficient demand for a particular bank, we will consider it.
Fraud - Surprisingly there has been 0 issues of fraud so far. There are plenty of reports online of exchanges being defrauded by customers reversing deposits after buying & withdrawing bitcoins, sometimes causing the exchanges to go bust. (
http://bitcoinmoney.com/post/8350754054/bank-transfer-reversals)
This is one of the things that the local banking system has done right, it is extremely difficult to reverse a bank transfer.
Regulators/Regulations - Lets just say that the cost and time spent on dealing with this is more than it took to develop the exchange. It has been a first hand experience for me on how Governments can sabotage their own country's growth by discouraging business startups with unnecessary regulations.
On a side note, i will be interviewed on 93.8 tomorrow(Thursday) 5:15pm.
