South Africa and Singapore join the list of countries to warn against cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance. Regulators in South Africa and Singapore warned thattheglobalcryptocurrencyexchangeis inviolationoftheirregulatory laws.
South Africa’s Financial Sector Conduct Authority, on Friday, issued a notice to warn against Binance, stating: “The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) warns the public to be cautious and vigilant when dealing with Binance Group as they are not authorized to give any financial advice or render any intermediary services in terms of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002 (FAIS Act) in South Africa.” The regulatory authority highlighted that Binance’s crypto-related investments were currently not regulated by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), or any other body in South Africa.
In the same vein, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank that supervises the cryptocurrency sector in the country, issued a statement on Thursday which stated that the operations of Binance.com (the international version and main exchange) in the country were in breach of the Payment Services Act.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also stated that Binance.com is required to stop providing payments to Singapore residents and to “cease soliciting such business from Singapore residents.” Currently, Binance is listed on Singapore’s central bank’s Investor Alert list, which serves to warn consumers that the company is not authorized to provide any payment services in Singapore.
Responding to the MSA’s notice on Binance.com, Binance Singapore, which operates under Binance Asia Services, said that the notice has no direct impact on the services it provides. “Binance Singapore (Binance.sg) is a separate legal entity from Binance.com, with its own local executive and management team and does not offer any products or services via the Binance.com website or other related entities, and vice versa,” Binance Singapore said.
In a separate statement, Binance.com said that it was actively working with Singapore’s Monetary Authority to address concerns that they may have through constructive dialogue. “We take our compliance obligations very seriously. We are actively keeping abreast of changing policies, rules, and laws in this new space. We will work closely with MAS and other global regulators to comply with the relevant regulatory standards,” Binance.com said.
In the past months, Binance has been the target of scrutiny and probes from global regulators. In April, German regulators mentioned that the exchange risked being fined for offering tokens connected to stock. In May, Binance was under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service. In June, the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) banned Binance from undertaking any regulated activity in the country. Japan’s financial regulator also warned that Binance was operating in the country illegally. In July, Thailand’s Securities and Futures Commission filed a criminal complaint against Binance on claims that it was operating a digital asset business without a license. Governments and financial watchdogs have also enacted stringent rules that now act as barriers restraining the activities of crypto exchanges like Binance.
Currently, Binance Asia Services is prevented from holding a license under Singapore’s Payment Services Act for the provision of digital payment token services as its license application has been placed under review.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
