Binance Restricts its Product Offering in Singapore in Response to Regulatory Clampdown

Binance cryptocurrency exchange, the biggest trading platform in the world, has announced it will cease all of its trading activities involving the Singapore Dollar, in compliance with local regulations. Beginning on Friday, the 10th of September, the trading platform will stop Singaporeans from transacting via the SGD payment option. Additionally, the exchange will affect the removal of its trading App from Singapore iOs and Google Play stores respectively.

Binance has been on many regulator’s Watchlist over the past months. From authorities in the United Kingdom to South Africa and Germany amongst others, the exchange comes off as the only one on the regulator’s radar for now. The exchange has taken proactive steps to address some of the claims made by a few regulators while reiterating its readiness to follow necessary regulatory measures.

The encompassing response to Singapore’s regulatory showdown will also see the exchange halt SGD pegged trading pairs, while users are advised to complete all related P2P trades and remove related trade advertisements by September 9th. This according to Binance is to avoid “potential trading disputes.”

“Our aim is to create a sustainable ecosystem around blockchain technology and digital assets. Binance welcomes developments to our industry’s regulatory framework as they pose opportunities for the market players to have greater collaboration with the regulators. We are committed to working constructively in policy-making that seeks to benefit every user.”

Is Binance Alone on the Regulator’s Watch-List?

The broad-based events surrounding Binance’s regulatory clampdowns might seem the exchange is alone in this struggle, however, a few other exchanges are battling regulatory compliance in various jurisdictions around the world. 

Trading platforms in South Korea are all on their toes, fighting to meet the laid out requirement from the country’s top regulatory watchdog, the Financial Services Commission (FSC). As reported by Coingape, about 11 exchanges risk being closed down due to failure to meet these requirements before the September 24 deadline.

Illegal exchange activities and operations have landed many other trading platforms in trouble. One of the latest of these is BitMEX Derivatives Exchange who was accused by the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) of operating an illegal exchange in the U.S. The exchange paid $100 million in settlement to resolve the case with the regulator.