Binance, the embattled crypto exchange that has been struggling to get licensed in different parts of the world, has announced that it has withdrawn its application for a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.
Singapore was expected to lead the push for the exchange with Asia and its stake acquisition in HG Exchange last week was touted as a precursor to the push for a license but that notion seems to have been brought to a standstill. The exchange has also made it clear that it would be shutting down its Singapore operations by February of next year as it winds up its operations in the region and starts looking for other places to find its new headquarters. The company has long been functioning without a headquarters and that has been one of the main issues as far as the regulators were concerned as each of its branches functioned in different regions without being regulated.
“We always put our users first, so our decision to close Binance.sg was not taken lightly,” said Richard Teng, Chief Executive Officer of Binance Singapore. “Our immediate priority is to help our users in Singapore transition their holdings to other wallets or other third-party services.”
Richard, with his vast experience in regulation and working with the MAS, was expected to lead the efforts to get the exchange regulated but his position seems to be up in the air now and it remains to be seen where and how he will get placed within the company. It is also reported that the exchange would be looking towards the Middle East to set up its base for its Asian expansion.
This comes as no surprise as Dubai and the UAE, in general, have begun to emerge as crypto-friendly jurisdictions over the last few months with several crypto companies being welcomed into the region and specific tax-friendly zones being set up over there to encourage more businesses to set up their branches in the region. Binance is expected to take on one of the offers and open its branch over there which could get licensed in the future as well but all these are speculations at the moment and it remains to be seen how the company is going to handle this new setback as it continues to be the leading exchange around the world with all these setbacks seemingly having no effect as far as its trading volumes are concerned.
