Having faced continuous scrutiny from regulators in almost all countries, the leading crypto exchange, Binance, has finally decided to have a central headquarters for its operations. The move will also enable the exchange to improve its relationship with regulators.
Binance CEO told media reporters in a recent interview that “we must have a central entity as a business running centralized operations. We need to be more transparent with our transactions, mode of operation, and the entirety of our business.”
Binance Run-In With Regulators
While Binance runs a centralized business since it is an exchange, its operations are similar to a decentralized business operation. Binance has continually changed its headquarters from time to time after moving it from its founding country (China). The Binance CEO said that Binance is setting up a centralized system to have an excellent working relationship with regulators.
He further said the exchange is making significant changes to some of its policies, especially its KYC policies. As widely reported in various media outlets, Binance has made the KYC compulsory for all its users per an official announcement released last month. This was done in a bid to accede to the request of regulators in the prevention of fraudulent practices on its platforms.
Binance stated that any user without a complete KYC profile wouldn’t be allowed to trade on its platform. Besides a mandatory KYC, Binance also made some changes to its services’ terms and conditions, especially leverage and stock tokens.
The Binance CEO said the exchange stopped reacting to regulators’ demands but instead chose to dialogue with the regulators on data sharing, structural changes in business, and compliance processes. His recent comments reiterate his comments at a virtual conference three months ago, where he first disclosed that the company is about to become a centralized entity.
At that time, he revealed that he wouldn’t mind stepping down from his position if the company finds someone more qualified than him, especially in acceding regulatory demands without compromising the company’s business operations. In the last four months, regulators from at least ten countries have started investing or sent warning notices to Binance.
The Dilemma In Locating Its New Headquarters
However, the company CEO hasn’t disclosed where it would cite its new headquarters. There are rumors that the exchange might site its new headquarters in Singapore because that’s where their CEO resides. The country’s authorities aren’t yet opposed to the digital asset industry.
Unfortunately, that decision might be on hold since Singapore’s top financial regulator recently notified its citizens warning them to desist from using Binance. It stated that the exchange’s operations violate Singapore’s PS act, including not having an operating license for the services it claims to render.
Consequently, the company has removed all SGD crypto pairs from its trading platform and mobile app. Furthermore, the SGD withdrawal option is no longer available on Binance. In a similar vein, the company has delisted its trading application from all smart devices’ Playstores.