The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s central bank, released a statement Nov. 21 to address “some questions and misconceptions that have arisen in the wake of the FTX.com (FTX) debacle.” The agency explained its 

The first point MAS wanted to make was that it could not protect local users from the fallout from FTX collapse “such as by ringfencing their assets or ensuring that FTX backed its assets with reserves” because “FTX is not licensed by MAS and operates offshore. MAS has consistently warned about the dangers of dealing with unregulated entities.”

Yet it was Binance that ended up on the MAS Investor Alert List. That was because Binance, unlike FTX, was actively targeting users in Singapore with offerings denominated in Singapore dollars and payment options through local transmitters. MAS noted that it had received “several” complaints about Binance between January and August 2021.

(by Derek Andersen)