Binance Plans to Take its US Entity Public while Singapore Entity Lands on Regulator’s Investor Alert List

Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance’s US-based entity could go public in the next three years, reported The Information. “Binance.US is just going to do what Coinbase did,” founder and chief executive officer Changpeng Zhao told the publication in a Zoom interview. According to the report, Zhao further said that Binance generated $800 million to $1 billion in profit last year. Binance.US is reportedly also set to close on a large private fundraising round in the next two months that should reduce his control of the board, Zhao further told The Information. As we reported last month, Chinese publication Wu Blockchain also said, the leading cryptocurrency exchange is considering obtaining investment and protection from government funds at a valuation of $200 billion, starting with Binance Singapore. Amidst this, on Thursday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued an investor alert for the exchange’s global website, Binance.com. According to the central bank’s website, the list covers those unregulated persons who, based on information received by the watchdog, may have been wrongly perceived as being licensed or regulated by MAS. Back in July, MAS said it would “follow up” with Binance’s Singapore entity, which was waiting for its license application’s review at the time. Binance is aware of the notice and is “actively working” with the regulator to address their concern. Just last month, Binance hired Richard Tend, who spent more than a decade with the Money Authority of Singapore, to head its Singapore operations. Singapore requires crypto companies to be licensed to operate under the 2019 Payment Services Act and since its creation, hundreds of companies have applied for the license. Crypto exchange Independent Reserve and DBS Bank’s brokerage arm DBS Vickers has already been granted an “in-principle approval” by the watchdog. On Wednesday, another local fintech firm FOMO Pay was added to this list of companies that have obtained a digital token payments license.