Binance, a global pioneer in crypto exchange, its Singapore’s arm has recently acquired 18% stakes in a private exchange. Although, this possession is still facing certain concerns related to regulatory compliance.
Binance Over Private Securities Exchange
The Binance Asia services have acquired stakes in Singapore’s local private stock exchange platform i.e. HGX, Hg Exchange. The announcement was made on Tuesday when the company made an official announcement regarding the post-money acquisition of 18% stakes in the Hg Exchange. This exchange is under the regulations and licensing of Singapore’s Monetary Authority.
The announcement was made by Richard Teng, CEO of Binance Singapore. In his statement, Teng states that new investment is intended to enable Binance and HGX to expand the portfolio of services and products that use blockchain technology. He stated that traditional and crypto financial instruments are consistently aligning together. And in such an age, they plan to build a partnership with HGX in order to enhance the state of blockchain in Singapore.
Background of HGX & Binance’s Regulatory Concerns
HGX Exchange is a private stock exchange driven through the community. The exchange was founded by wealth management firms and financial institutions like PhillipCapital along with other local businesses that were providing financial services, like Fundnel and PrimePartners. These are Southeast Asian platforms offering investment technology services. Hg exchange is specifically reliant on the Zilliqa blockchain technology.
Before joining Binance Singapore in Aug 2021, the present CEO,Teng was CEO at Abu Dhabi in the Financial Services Regulatory Authority. His comments reflected that Binance facilitates operations under the guidelines of “key government agencies” to maintain support for the blockchain ecosystem and is hence, ensuring active hiring from local regions.
Regulatory Concerns Led to the New Investment
This novel investment move is taken after Binance faced certain regulatory concerns in Singapore. Some compliance concerns arose in late September, which made Binance restrict its users in Singapore. Binance priorly prohibited its portfolio’s offerings in Singapore following allegations made by regulators concerning violation of payment laws.
