Binance Asia Withdraws Its Crypto Application in Singapore

The cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has announced that its Singapore affiliate has withdrawn its cryptoapplication from Singapore’s authorities.

Binance Asia announced in a statement that as of the 13^th of February, it will close operations, even though it was among the 170 companies that applied for a permit to provide crypto services by the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Binance Asia Withdraws Crypto Service Permit Application

Even though the fiat-to-crypto trading platform, Binance Asia, had previously applied to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a license to provide crypto services to the city-state, it has now withdrawn its application.

As of the 13^th of February, the platform Binance.sg will no longer be in operation, the company said in the statement. The Chief Executive Officer of Binance.sg, Richard Teng, said that the decision to close the platform was not taken lightly, as they always put users first. They have taken into account developmental, commercial and strategic considerations globally, and even thoughthankful to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for its ongoing assistance, they decided to withdraw the application, hopeful for some future opportunities to work together with the authority.

Is This Really the Reason for the Withdrawal?

This application withdrawal came amid speculations that Binance was going to locate its global headquarters in the Southeast Asian city-state. As you may know, Binance Holdings Ltd, co-founded and headed by Changpeng Zhao, doesn’t have a global base yet. Sure, there are firms in locations where the platform operates, but there isn’t a global headquarters.

And since Zhao is also one of the major shareholders of Binance Asia, rumours were that the reason why they have withdrawn the Singapore application was that he wants to base the company there. He has been hinting that he might base the firm in the Middle East and Europe, in pro-crypto jurisdictions, such as France, the UK and Dubai. But since he has been residing in Singapore for the past two years, nothing was sure anymore. Some believe the application withdrawal was likely to tone down speculations that Singapore will become the global headquarters for the company.