So here we go again – kindly refer to this article by The Block. This comes after Malaysia did the same thing. Apparently even the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) has placed Binance International (ie binance.com) on to one of their alert list. Seems like this alert list has a number of “unregulated” entities that others perceived to be as being regulated or approved by MAS. Not very sure what do they mean by this but I have never thought that Binance.com has been “approved” or even regulated by any of Singapore’s authorities. From what I know from the rest of my trading friends, they do understand that Binance is not regulated in Singapore. Even on Binance website, there is no indication that they are being regulated by the MAS at all. Heck, even their P2P platform specifically tells you to avoid putting down any indication of Binance or any mention of cryptocurrency anywhere. So how in the world would this MAS think there is such a perception by the public or by investors or traders? I am guessing somebody having too much free time in their hands down there at MAS and itching for something to do?
And what is this talk about payment services as well? I have tried paying with my debit card to purchase cryptocurrencies in Binance but everytime it has been rejected. So what kind of payment services is the Singapore authorities talking about. You cannot pay for anything on Binance. I have never paid for anything through Binance either. So again what payment services are they talking about? I see so many other exchanges that are offering services to Singaporeans, yet none of them seem to be targeted by the government. Feels a lot like somebody up there just love to kick others when they are down. But this is not unexpected. I can understand the government interest in trying to reign in uncontrolled trading activities but is it really that huge an issue in Singapore? Is the government just trying to parrot what other countries are doing? Or is there really an issue in Singapore? It seems to me that cryptocurrency trading is not that big in Singapore. Well at least not when compared to stocks and other investments in SGX. Perhaps the MAS should give us the breakdown and what is the cause of concern here. I am pretty interested to know what is the MAS’s thinking on this.
But folks if you have your portfolio in Binance (as in binance.com), perhaps you should start thinking of moving a portion away to other platforms. If I am not wrong, Xfers is probably a good choice so exchanges like Binance.sg (ironically) which is supported by Xfers should still be doing fine. I think crypto.com is also supported by Xfers as well.
[Update 07-Sep-2021]Looks like Binance has bowed down to pressure from MAS and has restricted trading in SGD. So basically you cannot do any sort of trading with SGD in Binance at the moment. This includes P2P trading. Kind of a bummer. I normally use P2P for small trades because it is so convenient. And it seems like MAS has not even explained in what way is Binance claiming that they have been regulated by the MAS?
