On Tuesday, Binance Asia (which is Binance’s Singapore branch) revealed the acquisition of a 19% stake in HGX, a Singapore-licensed stock exchange. The branch’s chief executive, Richard Teng, opined that the acquisition would assist the two firms in scaling up their blockchain-related product and service offerings.
The Logic Behind The Acquisition
Teng also stated that “there is a continued inter-relationship between the traditional finance industry and the digital asset industry. Hence, this collaboration will ensure wider adoption of blockchain tech across Singapore’s Fintech sector.” HGX is southeast Asia’s first member-driven private exchange. It was founded through a coalition between three leading financial institutions – Phillipcapital, Fundnel, and Primepartners.
Teng was appointed as Binance Asia CEO three months ago following a prior stint with Abu Dhabi’s financial regulatory services. Teng also affirmed that Binance is making continued efforts to expand the blockchain community by hiring talented blockchain developers and collaborating with regulatory authorities.
Has It Overcome Regulatory Issues?
This is the first time Binance is making an investment following its recent struggles with various financial regulatory authorities, including Singapore’s financial watchdog. However, this investment makes it seem that Binance has resolved its issues with Singapore financial regulators. While under investigation in Singapore, Binance’s Singapore users couldn’t access their accounts.
Singapore’s financial regulator accused Binance of violating monetary policies when it launched its limited product services. Another top crypto exchange, Huobi, had to cease its operations in Singapore last month before launching a similar offering.
The World Is Jealous Of Our New Crypto Regulation – Australian Crypto Experts
Many Australian crypto enthusiasts claim that the rest of the world is jealous following an announcement by Australia’s treasury secretary (Josh Frydenberg) that the country will soon release its crypto regulatory policy. Frydenberg made the pronouncement during a recent interview at the Australia-Israel commerce chambers. He further stated that the majority of the policy would adopt the recommendations from the senator Andrew Bragg-led committee on the issue, which was submitted two months ago.
Frydenberg also disclosed that the department will start the discussion on developing a policy for Australia’s crypto exchange industry, which according to him, operates without any guideline but still accounts for several billions of dollars of the trillion-dollar industry.
He said part of the discussion would focus on clarity regarding customers’ digital assets’ protection while hinting that some costs may be involved. The treasury secretary claimed that the clarity would further attract more investors and innovativeness.
Meanwhile, BTC markets boss, Caroline Bowers, told media men that during a recent conference call of global crypto investors, those outside Australia seemed jealous that “our country is implementing this clarified policy ahead of their nations.”
Even though the policy isn’t released officially yet, other nations are already wowed at “how far we’ve come.” “This goes to show the positive impact our local crypto ecosystem can have on the global stage,” she further said. Many Australian crypto enthusiasts are already anticipating an inflow of crypto investors following this announcement, and rightly so.