Cryptocurrency exchange Binance has withdrawn an application submitted to the Monetary Authority of Singapore to run a licensed cryptocurrency exchange in the country, the company said in a statement on Monday.
Binance.sg, the local website that currently runs a pared-down version of the exchange and is managed by Binance Asia Services, will stop operating on February 13, 2022.
“We always put our users first, so our decision to close Binance.sg was not taken lightly. Our immediate priority is to help our users in Singapore transition their holdings to other wallets or other third-party services. I am grateful to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its ongoing assistance to Binance Asia Services and we look forward to future opportunities to work together,” said Richard Teng, the chief executive of Binance Singapore.
The company said all Binance.sg users will be informed via email of what steps to take as the trading platform closes.
All registrations, crypto and currency deposits, and trading on Binance.sg will be closed immediately, and Binance.sg users will be required to close all open positions and withdraw their Singapore dollars and cryptocurrency assets by February 13, 2022.
It said it will “refocus” its Singapore operations towards blockchain solutions.
Binance Asia Services, the blockchain ecosystem behind Binance.sg, last week acquired a post-money stake of 18% in the Singapore-regulated private securities exchange HGX. Binance said it will collaborate with HGX to grow the blockchain ecosystem in Singapore.
Binance is the world’s most popular crypto exchange. It is nearly 4.5 times larger than the next largest exchange Coinbase, based on trading volumes listed on CoinMarketCap. Binance lists 408 coins and allows NFT trading.
The exchange, which pulled out of its home country China in 2017, has been facing numerous regulatory crackdowns worldwide, including in Malaysia, Britain, the US, and Japan.
However, it is moving ahead with its global expansion plans. On Friday, Bloomberg reported that Binance is in talks with PT Bank Central Asia (BCA) and the state-owned telco PT Telkom Indonesia to set up a crypto exchange.
Binance Labs, the VC arm of Binance, is thinking of raising its first externally financed fund next year, DealStreetAsia reported last week.