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Bloomberg Binance Asia Services, which recently withdrew an application to offer cryptocurrency services in Singapore, didn't meet the central bank's criteria for safeguarding against money laundering and terrorism financing, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The Monetary Authority of Singapore allows applicants to withdraw rather than face an outright regulatory rejection, the person said, asking not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. No reason was given when Binance Asia, an affiliate of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said on Dec 13 it was pulling the application. MAS managing director Ravi Menon said in October that it would apply "very high standards" in issuing the coveted crypto licences. Of the roughly 100 firms that have dropped out of the running so far, most did so after failing to meet Singapore's strict criteria on countering potential illicit flows, according to the person. In all, some 1

Kalpana Rashiwala, Claudia Chong, Sharanya Pillai, The Business Times, 17 December 2021 Zhu and wife recently granted option to buy Yarwood property as trustee for child; all 3 are Singapore citizens SINGAPOREAN crypto billionaire Zhu Su is understood to be in the early stage of buying a bungalow in Yarwood Avenue on 31,862 square feet of land for S$48.8 million. The price works out to S$1,532 per square foot (psf) on the land area. On the 999-year leasehold site is an old 2-storey bungalow with 6 bedrooms that is understood to be leased currently. It is ripe for redevelopment. Zhu and his wife, Tao Yaqiong Evelyn, who has a PhD in biology from the National University of Singapore, were recently granted an option to buy the Yarwood property, in the Kilburn Estate Good Class Bungalow (GCB) Area - as trustee for a nearly 3-year-old child . All 3 are Singapore citizens. Bungalows in the 39 gazetted GCB Areas are the most prestigious form of landed housing in Singapore , with str

Claudia Chong, The Business Times, 13 December 2021 BINANCE, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the government of Dubai for crypto-related activities, sources with knowledge of the matter said. Dubai is regarded as one of the potential locations for Binance's global headquarters, along with France. Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, Binance's chief executive and co-founder, bought his first home in Dubai in October. Zhao told Bloomberg last month that he bought the apartment to show Binance's commitment to the city, which he described as "very pro-crypto". "The government there is very progressive, and it's a very good business environment," he said. Singapore was reportedly also considered for Binance's global hub but the exchange's local arm has withdrawn its crypto licence application in the city-state. The Singapore unit on Monday (Dec 13) said it will shut down its ope

Abigail Ng, CNBC, 13 December 2021 CNBC interviewed 10 current and former employees of Chinese tech firms to ask what work life is like in those companies’ Singapore offices. The hours may sometimes go long, but most people who spoke to CNBC said the “996” work culture common among tech firms in China hasn’t been adopted in Singapore. English-speaking workers described Mandarin being common in the workplace, as well as working on contract. Singaporeans who have worked at Chinese tech firms said job-seekers should be prepared to work long hours, especially when interacting with colleagues based in China. “ There is no sacred day or time ,” said the former employee who found the use of Mandarin at a Tencent subsidiary overwhelming. She said her bosses, who are based in China, sent her questions at night, during the weekend and on public holidays . “You could just ignore it, but would you really be able to relax knowing your boss is waiting for your reply ?” she asked. “There’s no real re

Binance’s Singapore entity plans to withdraw its application for a crypto license in the city-state, and will expel local users by Feb. 13, 2022, the exchange said on Monday . Binance Asia Services, the exchange’s local affiliate, is one of approximately 170 crypto firms that had applied for a Digital Payment Token License in Singapore, which would allow them to offer digital assets services to local users. Firms are allowed to offer crypto services as long as their license application is under review. Binance will stop offering services through its local site, Binance.sg, by Feb. 13, 2022, closing all existing accounts. Users have to close their positions by that date. Effective immediately, Binance Singapore will not accept any new users, and will not allow existing users to deposit assets on the exchange. Users can continue trading in crypto until Jan. 12, 2022. After that, they will only be able to withdraw crypto and fiat assets to third-party platforms, until Feb.

Olivia Poh, The Business Times, 13 December 2021 BINANCE Singapore unit has withdrawn its application for a crypto permit by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to operate in the city-state, and will shut down its operations in the financial hub by Feb 13, it said in a statement on Monday (Dec 13). Effective immediately, registrations, crypto and currency deposits as well as trading on Binance.sg will be closed. "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," said Richard Teng, chief executive of Binance Singapore. "I am grateful to the MAS for its ongoing assistance to Binance Asia Services and we look forward to future opportunities to work together." Earlier this month, The Business Times reported that Binance's local arm is considering withdrawing its application to operate in Singapore, as its application

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Dear Valued Users, Further to the announcement including Singapore as a restricted jurisdiction ( https://www.huobi.com/support/en-us/detail/94890776278324 ), Huobi Global emphasizes that its paramount concern is to permit Singapore-based users to retire their accounts in an orderly manner and to ensure the safety of their digital assets. Please see the current schedule for retirement of the following services on Huobi Global for Singapore-based users: ETPs, Margin Trading, Grid Trading, Futures Products, Huobi Earn, OTC Trading, Deposit Services, Cloud Wallet, Spot Trading, and Airdrop Services.    I. ETPs, Margin Trading, and Grid Trading 1. ETPs Singapore-based users will no longer be able to subscribe for ETPs from  08:00 (UTC) on Feb 25, 2022,  and will no longer be able to redeem their ETP holdings from  07:55 (UTC) on Mar 16, 2022 . At  08:00 (UTC) on Mar 16, 2022 , the ETP holdings of Singapore-based users will be automatically redeemed at their current pric

Claudia Chong, The Business Times, 10 December 2021 MATCHMOVE on Wednesday disclosed that US$80 million of its US$100 million funding from US-based Nityo Infotech will be in the form of in-kind transactions, while the rest will be in cash. Nityo's investment has also been approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, according to MatchMove. This comes after The Business Times last month reported a delay in Nityo's investment. Sources had told BT that Nityo, an outsourcing company, agreed to invest in the startup only if majority of the funding is in the form of services. Filings with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) on Dec 2 showed that there are certain restrictions on how the cash from Nityo can be used. The cash has to be used entirely for MatchMove's quarterly expenditure, which refers to the total operating and capital expenditure projected to be incurred by the company in the quarter. According to the parties' share subscript

Yong Jun Yuan, The Business Times, 6 December 2021 Ivan Xu, 25-year-old computing and information systems major, strongly believes in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and what it hopes to achieve CRYPTOCURRENCIES have been a polarising topic among investors ever since they gained mainstream attention. On one hand, some believe that cryptocurrencies are purely speculative and cannot be used reliably as a store of value or a unit of account. Others, however, maintain that these pieces of virtual code hold immense potential as we begin to live more of our lives online. Personally, I have always viewed the concept of cryptocurrencies as a libertarian's fevered dream come to life, where value is based on the hope that money may one day be free from the shackles of centralised authorities. So, I was particularly intrigued when I saw a former primary school classmate of mine on Instagram sharing trading tips on cryptocurrencies this year. If Crypto.com advertises that "Fortune

Tan Nai Lun, The Business Times, 8 December 2021 CRYPTOCURRENCY trading platform Crypto.com has been awarded the Data Protection Trust Mark (DPTM), making it the first financial technology company to attain the enterprise-wide certification. Awarded by Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), the DPTM was introduced to recognise companies that have put in place data protection regimes to comply with obligations under the Personal Data Protection Act. Crypto.com's certification hence "further strengthens its position as an industry leader in data protection and security", the company said in a statement on Monday (Dec 6). Jason Lau, Crypto.com's chief information security officer, noted that the DPTM is Singapore's "most prestigious official certification" for information security and data privacy. Crypto.com's DPTM is held by Foris Asia, the company's trading entity in Singapore. Crypto.com provides customers prepa

Benjamin Cher, The Business Times, 8 December 2021 BINANCE will acquire 18 per cent of Singapore-regulated private securities exchange, Hg Exchange (HGX). The embattled crypto exchange will acquire the post-money stake, which includes its own investment, via its Singapore arm, Binance Asia Services. This move comes after Binance has mulled leaving the island republic over its regulatory licence limbo. The acquisition could help with Binance's regulatory hurdles, as HGX was recently granted a recognised market operator licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Other than private companies, HGX is working to list alternative assets such as wine, art and real estate. "Crypto and traditional financial offerings continue to converge. Through this investment, we seek to work with HGX in enhancing offerings of products and services supported by blockchain technology," said Richard Teng, chief executive, Binance Singapore. Teng was the chairman at HGX before he took over

Kelly Ng,  The Business Times,  07 December 2021 The Singapore regulator is faced with a large backlog of crypto-related licence applications. According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) website, close to 70 applicants seeking to be licensed as digital payment token (DPT) service providers remain on the waiting list. These entities are operating under a regime that allows them to be exempted from holding a licence while their applications are under review. More keenly associated with risks of money laundering than fiscal dollars, the cryptocurrency industry remains difficult to regulate. As Singapore continues to want to build itself up as a place for crypto infrastructure, crypto players are waiting on Singapore’s playbook over its ambitions on this front. Authorities are thus treading a fine line between maintaining regulations and stifling innovation, some observers say. The MAS has to date granted just 4 licences to DPT service providers. That’s since January 2020, whe