SINGAPORE – The cryptocurrency exchange Binance.com was placed on the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) investor alert list on Thursday, September 2.

The list points to companies that are not licensed by the MAS, but which may have given investors the impression that they were sanctioned by the Singapore regulator.

As of September 2, the MAS website listed 699 companies, including those registered overseas, that may have been wrongly perceived to be MAS regulated.

In recent months, Binance – the world’s largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume – has come under intense scrutiny from regulators around the world, including in Malaysia, Britain, United States, Italy and Thailand.

Its UK branch, Binance Markets, was banned in June from carrying out regulated activities in the country over fears it was not doing enough to prevent money laundering and other financial crimes on its platform. The Japanese financial regulator also issued a notice warning that Binance was not registered to do business in the country.

Binance’s unit in Singapore, Binance Asia Services, is a separate entity and is not the operator of the Binance.com platform.

In June 2021, MAS said in its response to questions from The Straits Times that it was aware of actions taken by other regulators against Binance and would follow up, if necessary, with its local branch.

Binance Asia Services is currently exempt from holding a license under the Singapore Payment Services Act to provide digital payment token services as its license application is under review.

It operates the Binance.sg platform, which offers Singaporeans and residents here to trade pairs in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Binance Coin. It also provides SGD deposit and withdrawal functionality through the Xfers Direct payment platform.

Last month, Binance Singapore (Binance.sg) announced the appointment of MAS veteran Richard Teng as the new managing director. Mr. Teng worked at MAS for 13 years and was its last Director of Corporate Finance. He was also director of regulation at the Singapore Stock Exchange.