Monetary Authority of Singapore: Binance May Have Violated the Payment Services Act

MAS placed Binance on the IAL because it had solicited Singapore users without a licence. Further, on MAS’ referral, the Commercial Affairs Department commenced investigation into Binance for possible contravention of the Payment Services Act.

It is reported that MAS required Binance to stop soliciting Singapore users. To assure MAS that it was no longer doing so, Binance put in place various measures including geo-blocking of Singapore IP addresses and the removal of its mobile application from Singapore app stores. These measures were intended to demonstrate beyond doubt that Binance had ceased soliciting and providing services to Singapore users.

Previously, MAS received several complaints about Binance between January and August 2021. There were also announcements in multiple jurisdictions of unlicensed solicitation of customers by Binance during the same period.

The purpose of the IAL is to warn the public of entities that may be wrongly perceived as being MAS-regulated, especially those which solicit Singapore customers for financial business without the requisite MAS licence. It does not mean that the thousands of other entities operating offshore, which are not listed on the IAL, are safe to deal with.