Too Big To Fail? Why Binance Could Face Sanctions From Singapore Financial Regulator

Leading crypto exchange Binance has been attacked by several regulatory entities around the globe. Singapore’s Monetary Authority Service (MAS) recently stated that they are keeping up with the “actions” taken against this platform by other regulators.

Thus, the MAS will “follow up” and will review Binance’s permit to provide crypto-related services in Singapore. Per a Bloomberg report, the exchange has been granted a grace period that allows it to operate in this country.

Binance is in the process of acquiring a license that will allow it to legally operate in this country. The regulator will evaluate if the exchange has taken the necessary measures to uphold its laws and prevent illicit capital to enter the platform. In a statement to Bloomberg, the exchange said:

It is important to note that we take a collaborative approach in working with regulators and we take our compliance obligations very seriously. We are actively keeping abreast of changing policies, rules and laws in this new space.

Regulators in Japan and the United Kingdom have recently targeted Binance. Japanese users are forbidden from trading on this platform, and now U.K.-based users will need to follow a similar order for crypto derivatives. However, Singapore could have interest that will favor Binance, as noted by reporter Colin Wu.

Singapore’s attitude is obviously to protect Binance. Binance rejected Sequoia Capital’s investment and accepted Singapore’s state-owned capital investment before. In fact, many founders of China's cryptocurrency industry are based in Singapore. https://t.co/woNwHUuWoa

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 2, 2021

Leveraged trading has become a concern for international regulators, the narrative that crypto derivatives pose a danger to consumers is gaining traction. As a consequence, Binance and other major exchanges in Asia, the U.S., and Europe seem to be under the spotlight.

Binance, Bitcoin, And The Crypto Industry Saw Aggressive Assault In June

The crypto community has disregarded the crackdown against Binance as Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD). In the past two months, there has been news that could be classified as such. In fact, this past June set a new record in the amount of FUD spread by national regulators, CEOs, and other entities.

Travis Kling, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at Ikigai Asset Management, believes this month presented the “most aggressive sovereign assault on Bitcoin ever”. Kling showed a timeline of the announcements that directly targeted BTC and concluded that in 30 days, at least, 25 discrete events were recorded.

As seen in the chart, the events began with a statement from a Chinese government official calling for a crypto crackdown due to the popularity of exchanges, such as Binance. The timeline ends with Huobi shutting down their leverage trading products to Chinese users.

Alex Gladstein, Chief Strategy Officer for the Human Rights Foundation, said the following on the discoveries made by Kling and potential future attacks to Bitcoin:

A sobering chart. And we’re just getting started with government attacks on Bitcoin. Today, however, we also have governments *adopting* Bitcoin. It’s just a matter of time before policymakers realize the former doesn’t work, and trend toward the latter.

At the time of writing, Binance Coin (BNB) trades at $283 with sideways movement in the 1-hour and 24-hour chart, but important losses in the 2 week and 30-day chart. BNB still holds the 4^th spot in the crypto top 10 by market cap and could see more downside if BTC’s price continues to trend downwards.