Prominent cryptocurrency exchange, Binance continues to sink in troubled waters as more regulators including South Africa and Singapore call out the exchange for providing unauthorized services.
The past couple of weeks have been tough for the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. While regulators from the UK started the whole trend, a few others joined the train. An array of financial watchdogs from various countries began suggesting that the platform was operating in their region without a proper license. Now, South Africa joined the list as its monetary regulator, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa [FSCA] went on to allege that Binance wasn’t authorized to deliver any sort of advice as well as intermediary services to its citizens.
In an elaborate notice, the FSCA stated,
“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.”
Binance, however, denied this and pointed out that there was no “Binance Group” functioning in the region.
South Africa isn’t the only one; Singapore joins the list
While South Africa issued a warning, Singapore went on to ask the exchange to stop all its services in the region. The Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS] noted that Binance could be breaching the region’s Payments Services Act. The platform reportedly failed to apply for a license under the law put forth by MAS, therefore, it isn’t authorized to provide any sort of services to Singaporeans.
Nizam Ismail, the founder of Ethikom Consultancy, a Singapore-based consultant, spoke about the same and stated,
“MAS is likely to take a holistic view on the application and consider the fact that Binance (global) has been put on the investor alert list. Binance (global) would have to show that it has remediated any shortcomings and that it will not, going forward, solicit trades from Singapore resident customers.”