Binance
Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of Binance, has confirmed that his company applied for an operating license in Singapore. This comes less than a month since the Asian country introduced a comprehensive regulation for businesses dealing with digital assets.
The largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume has applied for an operating license in Singapore. Binance CEO, CZ, confirmed the news in a phone interview with Bloomberg. He said that the local regulators have been open-minded and outlined his company’s quick reaction:
“We have already applied. We submitted the application pretty fast. Binance’s Singapore entity has been in close touch with the local regulators, and they have always been open-minded.”
As of earlier this year, Singapore introduced the Payment Service Act 2019 (PSA). Essentially, all cryptocurrency-related businesses and exchanges based in the country called Digital Payment Token (DPT) services, come under its supervision. Anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorist-financing (CTF) rules apply for them, as well.
Therefore, such businesses are required to first register and then apply for a license to operate in the country.
When introduced, the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Assistance Managing Director, Loo Siew Yee, said that the PSA provides a “forward-looking and flexible regulatory framework for the payments industry.” Additionally, he said that it will bring more security and safety to the system, thus raising the trust.
The company has been active lately in terms of developments. Binance Future has added numerous new trading pairs. One of the most intriguing came earlier this month when the firm launched the BNB/USDT perpetual contract. This allowed users not only to long BNB on the regular spot exchange but to also short it with leverage of up to 50x.
In other news, the company added peer-to-peer (P2P) trading for the Russian Ruble. As of recently, customers can transact with no fees on the exchange’s P2P platform. This came as a continuation of Binance’s acceptance of the Ruble. The Russian currency is supported on the company’s primary platform since February 2nd.