Binance Compliance War! Acquired 18% shares of Hg Exchange, a licensed stock exchange in Singapore

Binance Asia Services, the operating entity of Binance Singapore (Binance.sg), announced on the 8th that it has acquired 18% of the shares of the local licensed private stock exchange "Hg Exchange" (hereinafter referred to as HGX). It is not clear how much money Binance Asia Services has invested to acquire shares, and the acquisition is still subject to approval by local regulators.

HGX is the first private stock exchange in Southeast Asia driven by community members. It was founded by three leading financial institutions in Singapore. The three companies are Phillip Capital, Prime Partners, a financial services group, and Southeast Asia Private Investment. Technology platform Fundnel. The exchange is supported by the Zilliqa blockchain and provides trading of company equity tokens. In addition, HGX also listed alternative tokenized digital assets including wine, art and real estate.

"THEBLOCK" reported that HGX also obtained a Recognized Market Operator (RMO) license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore earlier this year. This license allows the company to provide transactions in digital tokens or securities, which enables Binance Singapore to cooperate with regulated companies. Market operator.

Richard Teng, CEO of Binance Singapore, said in a press release: Cryptocurrency and traditional financial products will continue to merge. Through this investment, we seek to cooperate with HGX to strengthen Singapore's blockchain ecosystem. We will also continue to work closely with Singapore’s major government agencies to support the development of the blockchain ecosystem and the necessary local talents.

Richard Teng was the chairman of HGX before joining Binance Singapore in August this year.

Binance Singapore's regulatory dilemma

The currency circle previously reported that after receiving a warning from the Bank of Singapore in August this year, Binance announced in early September that it would suspend its services in Singapore. In addition to removing the Singapore Dollar Transaction (SGD) pair and the Starcoin payment function, it will also The Binance.com App was removed from the local iOS and GooglePlay platforms.

It was announced at the end of September that from October 26, 2021, Singaporean users will not be able to access certain functions on Binance.com, including fiat currency deposit services, cryptocurrency spot transactions, and fiat currency purchases of cryptocurrency services in response to them. Commitment to compliance.

Binance Asia Service is currently waiting for approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to provide cryptocurrency services in Singapore. In addition, when Binance acquired shares of HGX, the foreign media "BusinessTimes" reported on the 2nd that Binance may withdraw its license application in Singapore and find another place for its global headquarters. But a Binance spokesperson declined to comment on this report and said Binance does not comment on rumors or speculation.