MAS Says Binance Was Included To The Investor Alert List Owing To FTX’s Illegal Behavior

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it placed Binance on its Investor Alert List (IAL) and not the bankrupt FTX because the former is actively looking for users in the country, while the latter is not, according to a Nov. 21 statement.

The regulator observed that in order to attract Singaporeans, the Changpeng Zhao-led exchange added features including “providing listings in Singapore dollars and accepted Singapore-specific payment mechanisms like as PayNow and PayLah.”

MAS claimed that between January and August 2021, it received a number of complaints regarding Binance. During this time, the regulatory body saw that a number of nations, including Italy, Japan, and others, released comments claiming that the exchange was operating illegally in their territories.

MAS went on to say that it has requested that the Commercial Affairs Department of Singapore look into whether Binance had broken the Payment Service Act (PS Act).

Binance was told to stop contacting Singaporeans, according to MAS. The exchange instituted controls like geo-blocking Singapore IP addresses and deleting its app from Singapore’s app stores.

These actions, in the eyes of the authorities, proved that the exchange complied with the prohibition.

Not looking for Singaporean users is FTX

Because the defunct cryptocurrency exchange didn’t target Singaporeans and didn’t conduct deals using the local currency, according to MAS, it was not included on the IAL.

Because there was no proof that the exchange had broken the PS Act, the regulator stated that it was not possible to include FTX on its IAL.

The watchdog added that because FTX was an unregulated offshore operation, it was unable to order it to back its assets with reserves.

The regulator came to the conclusion that it was impossible to add all offshore crypto exchanges to the IAL because “hundreds of such exchanges and thousands of other offshore companies accept investments in non-crypto assets.”

The regulator already said on November 14 that the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX did not function in the nation. The co-founder of Ethereum (ETH), Vitalik Buterin, stated that the county’s regulatory effort might not succeed due to its skepticism toward the sector.

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