Binance permanently shuts down Singapore operations.

[YOSHIE]

Honestly, today's phenomenon with the Binance exchange in Singapore, has me confused about their decision as presented below.

Binance permanently shuts down Singapore operations

Binance Singapore affiliate says will withdraw licence bid, shut local platform

As far as I know, of the many Crypto exchanges in Singapore, Binance is the one that has officially received permits/licenses from various parties in Singapore, the government and banks, this year officially, but beyond the expectations that Binance decided today.

So, what are the laws or rules that have been implemented by the Singapore government, so that they took the decision to stop crypto trading in Singapore, they give a time for withdrawal of all assets on the Binance platform until the time is determined, if I'm not mistaken February 2022, all assets must be emptied.

I really don't think that can happen, even though Binance is the most popular site right now in singapore, besides the government fully supports the Binance exchange.

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[The Sceptical Chymist]

I wonder whey they decide to close their business when they managed to get license. Is Binance unpopular on Singapore or the regulation is too tight even for them?

I doubt it's a popularity factor, since I don't think Singapore has a more trusted crypto exchange than Binance (but someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that point).  And I'm not sure about how strict Binance is/was being regulated in that country, but I can't imagine they'd shutter their doors if it wasn't because of regulators giving them a hard time.

There's this fog of mystery when it comes to crypto exchanges and where they're allowed to operate and what the laws are exactly--at least in my mind.  For example, Binance isn't available in my state in the US, yet I could never find any laws on the books that said it was illegal for them to provide their services here.  Same thing goes for ShapeShift and the various companies Ledger partnered with; they're also not allowed in my state, and it's very odd.

This news seems a bit ominous to me, but I'm going to try to stay optimistic that Binance and other exchanges won't start going out of business one country at a time.

[YOSHIE]

I wonder whey they decide to close their business when they managed to get license. Is Binance unpopular on Singapore or the regulation is too tight even for them?

I also think so, but I have contacted some of my relatives there, they also say this is not clear, because Binance didn't mention it, they received gmail from Binance, all assets were emptied before the specified time, all assets must be transferred to the local exchange.

This news seems a bit ominous to me, but I'm going to try to stay optimistic that Binance and other exchanges won't start going out of business one country at a time.

This news is very heartbreaking for me, especially my relatives who are there at the moment, they are starting to get restless, one side the government there implements the best policies for its citizens there regarding crypto, instead Binance reverses direction, this is annoying, don't know for sure what happened to Binance in Singapore.

[noorman0]

-snip-

I wonder whey they decide to close their business when they managed to get license. Is Binance unpopular on Singapore or the regulation is too tight even for them?

I think that's it since the beginning of this year. They also did not hesitate to revoke the license of the exchange based in that country.

I doubt it's a popularity factor, since I don't think Singapore has a more trusted crypto exchange than Binance (but someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that point).

Huobi is also a trusted exchange that has been operating in the country longer and has been subject to the same legal action. I remember that Huobi global also plans to close their operations next year. On the other hand, only the stock exchange branch (Huobi Singapore) is allowed to continue operating (source).

I don't know, maybe Singapore wants exchanges that only serve their own citizens because they don't want to be involved in international criminal cases.

[Husires]

Being subject to regulation means that a lot of the work that binance will be under surveillance, and therefore pumping and dumping, manipulation of altcoins/BTC rates and Stacking/BNB price may be under the radar of monitoring.

Accounts of registered users who have not passed KYC will be suspended.

Source: https://binancesingapore.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4416402912525-Announcement-to-all-Binance-sg-users


Read above point, it seems that something happened with Binance licenses and they wanted to hide it by withdrawing and closing its business, but I think that if there was an audit of the platform's activities, many problems would appear on the surface.


Let's hope that it is temporary and other exchanges that will operate in the near future.

[dkbit98]

Nobody cares what CZ and his Binance Titanic exchange is doing, they crossed all the lines when they called for strict global crypto regulations as a way to save their skin and skip any sanctions in future.
We see that centralized exchanges are hacked all the time and it's only a matter of time when this will happen to Binance again, planned or by accidental mistake

[stomachgrowls]

Nobody cares what CZ and his Binance Titanic exchange is doing, they crossed all the lines when they called for strict global crypto regulations as a way to save their skin and skip any sanctions in future.
We see that centralized exchanges are hacked all the time and it's only a matter of time when this will happen to Binance again, planned or by accidental mistake

Back into those years were issues arent really that rampant or simply these events are not that much into the past but now Binance is really facing up some
issues in related with regulation or something like that.

All we do know is to presume out things unless it gets clarfied or cleared up that they had been not squeezed out with tighter regulation but just like on whats others been saying it isnt really that the case.

You would be having question on why they would shut their doors if there are no problems? Less popularity is something not a convincing
reason imho.

[sheenshane]

IMO, just because of the Regulatory compliance, as I heard before this was their top priority, and as the CZ said, they are going to become a financial services company that would become a fully need a compliment.

I have doubt that not only Singapore will experience this, it might also those countries have heavy regulation and can't operate without a license.  A part of the plan by CZ is that Binance could be registered as a crypto-asset firm.

Then, if they had shut down operation in Singapore, what will be the next country is?

[Darker45]

As far as I know, of the many Crypto exchanges in Singapore, Binance is the one that has officially received permits/licenses from various parties in Singapore, the government and banks, this year officially, but beyond the expectations that Binance decided today.

I really don't think that can happen, even though Binance is the most popular site right now in singapore, besides the government fully supports the Binance exchange.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Binance has a license in Singapore. They are only allowed to operate by the Singaporean government pending approval of their license application. So their operation in the country does not signify a license. What is being withdrawn, therefore, in this process of Binance shutting down its Singapore operations is their license application. By withdrawing their license application, Binance is in effect losing its legal reason to operate.

This is primarily due to Singapore's rigid crypto policies. And also, this is not the first time Binance withdrew a license application.

[YOSHIE]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Binance has a license in Singapore.

Indeed they don't have a license at the moment, but as far as I know, from hundreds of crypto exchanges in Singapore, Binance which officially issued a license from a related party this year, it can be seen here: https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/binance-affiliate-says-will-withdraw-singapore-licence-application-2021-12-13/

Binance's Singapore unit was one of well over 100 cryptocurrency companies to apply for a license to operate in Singapore and had been allowed do business while its license request was being processed.

Singapore issued its first licences this year, including to a unit of southeast Asia's largest bank DBS (DBSM.SI), however dozens of others have been withdrawn or rejected.

Further strengthened by the information my relatives told me in Singapore.

For now, not sure exactly the motivation behind Binance's current shutdown there, maybe what is said by: @Husires, it could be, but it's not certain, for now my relatives there can only follow directions first, there is no clearer information as to why this happened.

Allegations and factors there are 100 negative allegations against Binance closing there, however, can't be disclosed here, it's internal between Binance and related parties/Rules.

we'll see the next process.

[Darker45]

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Binance has a license in Singapore.

Indeed they don't have a license at the moment, but as far as I know, from hundreds of crypto exchanges in Singapore, Binance which officially issued a license from a related party this year, it can be seen here: https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/binance-affiliate-says-will-withdraw-singapore-licence-application-2021-12-13/

Binance's Singapore unit was one of well over 100 cryptocurrency companies to apply for a license to operate in Singapore and had been allowed do business while its license request was being processed.

Singapore issued its first licences this year, including to a unit of southeast Asia's largest bank DBS (DBSM.SI), however dozens of others have been withdrawn or rejected.

Yeah, that's exactly what it is saying, specifically that Binance does not have a license to operate really. Binance, along with other companies, are operating because they are applying for a license and the government of Singapore is benevolent enough to allow them to operate while their license applications are still in the process. However, as the article says, dozens of license applications are already rejected or withdrawn possibly for failing to meet certain regulatory requirements.

For now, not sure exactly the motivation behind Binance's current shutdown there, maybe what is said by: @Husires, it could be, but it's not certain, for now my relatives there can only follow directions first, there is no clearer information as to why this happened.

Husires has a point. That's probably the reason why Binance is withdrawing its license application, because it cannot provide what the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is asking. That's precisely the same reason why Binance also withdrew its registration application with the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). They did not cooperate. They'd rather pull out their application than have themselves closely scrutinized by the authorities.

[buwaytress]

I doubt it's a popularity factor, since I don't think Singapore has a more trusted crypto exchange than Binance (but someone please correct me if I'm wrong on that point).  And I'm not sure about how strict Binance is/was being regulated in that country, but I can't imagine they'd shutter their doors if it wasn't because of regulators giving them a hard time.

I haven't kept up in about 3/4 years but anyone I knew trading in Southeast Asia has been fine with Localbitcoins (which has "exchange" and auto bots putting up trades there).

And also Luno. That's super popular in Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia. I'd assumed Singapore too. Don't know why but Binance pulled out of Africa too last year and it wasn't as if there was an exodus of exchanges there.

Trimming down the business maybe?

Huobi is also a trusted exchange that has been operating in the country longer and has been subject to the same legal action. I remember that Huobi global also plans to close their operations next year. On the other hand, only the stock exchange branch (Huobi Singapore) is allowed to continue operating (source).

Speaking of, I just got an email today from Antpool asking to change any withdrawal addresses that is linked to Huobi Global. Never used the exchange myself but I had accounts on both Huobi + Global but they kept changing entities and accounts I gave up trying to know which to keep (almost like how Bittrex started moving us around when they had US and global sites).

[batang_bitcoin]

They've shutdown their operation after opening an alternative for their Singapore users just for a few months. And there's this news too that they're planning to make Singapore as a crypto hub but now, it's not going to happen anymore.
It could be that there's the same issue from Singapore and IIRC, in EU that the licensing part is too hard to comply for them.

[Potato Chips]

Someone tipped bloomberg

Binance Asia Services Ltd., which recently withdrew an application to offer cryptocurrency services in Singapore, didn’t meet the central bank’s criteria for safeguarding against money laundering and terrorism financing, a person with knowledge of the matter said.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore allows applicants to withdraw rather than face an outright regulatory rejection, the person said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. No reason was given when Binance Asia, an affiliate of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, said Dec. 13 it was pulling the application.

which makes more sense than CZ's clarification statement.

Clarification. Binance made a sizable investment into regulated exchange HGX last week. This investment made our own application somewhat redundant. We will continue to work through our partners to grow the crypto industry in Singapore. Onwards.

HGX currently doesn't cater to public which makes it not redundant. Although that may change in the future with binance in the picture but still I don't think they will settle for less if they can thrive more themselves.