Singapore Monetary Authority placed Binance.com on investor alert list


Singapore's
central bank and financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore
(MAS), has placed the industry's largest crypto exchange Binance.com on the
investor alert list.
The MAS’s alert
list of investors shows a list of unregulated entities which may have been
wrongly perceived as being regulated or licensed by the authority. On Thursday MAS
who is also regulating both monetary policy as well as monitoring the countries
financial sector, has placed "www.binance.com" on the list.
The news comes
one week after Binance hired Richard Teng, the former chief regulatory officer
of the Singapore Stock Exchange, as CEO of Binance Singapore. Teng also worked
at the MAS for 13 years as director of corporate finance from 1994 to 2007.
In August a
spokesperson from MAS said that Binance Asia Services which was the Binance's
registered entity in Singapore was not currently licensed. It has applied for a
license and the application is under review by the regulator. Currently the
entity is temporarily exempt from licensing under Singapore's Payment Services
Act until the application is approved, rejected, or withdrawn.
Currently
Binance's Singapore website Binance.sg is not on the investor alert list. As
per Binance spokesperson Binance.com and Binance.sg are separate exchanges. Binance.sg
operates in Singapore with its own local executive and management team. Binance
Singapore is backed by Vertex Venture Holdings and is solely focused on growing
the Singapore cryptocurrency ecosystem and servicing users in Singapore.
Warnings
against Binance
In Asia, both
Japan and Malaysia have warned that the crypto exchange is operating in the
country with the requisite license. In the UK, Italy, and Holland, authorities
have issued similar warnings.
The Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK said that it doesn't consider the firm
"capable of being effectively supervised." The FCA added that,
"This is of particular concern in the context of the firm’s membership of
a global Group which offers complex and high-risk financial products, which
pose a significant risk to consumers."

Indrani bose
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA