Binance has halted plans to set up a cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore and will shut down its platform there by 13 February.
The crypto trading firm said registrations, crypto and currency deposits trading on the Singapore platform will stop with immediate effect, with users to be informed by email of the next steps they will have to take in respect of their holdings.
Last week, Binance Singapore (BS) bought an 18% post-money stake in the regional private securities exchange HG Exchange (HGX) that was granted a recognised market operator licence by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) earlier this year.
Binance’s billionaire co-founder and chief executive Changpeng Zhao revealed on Twitter today that its investment in HGX was a factor in the company’s decision to withdraw its application to run its own exchange.
BS, which had been operating under a temporary exemption during the licensing process, was one of approximately 170 companies that had applied to the MAS for a crypto service providing licence.
“We always put our users first, so our decision to close Binance.sg was not taken lightly,” said Richard Teng, BS chief executive, before adding that its “immediate priority is to help [its] users in Singapore transition their holdings to other wallets or other third-party services.”
Binance is the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, according to CoinGecko.