Singaporean financial authorities have issued a final warning to crypto exchanges operating in the region without a license. Exchanges are expected to cease operations by June 30 at the latest.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, the Monetary Authority of Singapore has prompted a number of crypto exchanges to reevaluate their operations in the region due to the crackdown. The notice was first issued at the end of May, followed by a clarification on June 6, which urged crypto firms to cease operations by June 30.
“This move should also not come as a surprise to the industry as we have consistently communicated our position on such service providers on various occasions,” said a MAS spokesperson to Bloomberg.
Despite financial authorities insisting that only a “very small” number of providers will be affected, major crypto firms operating in Singapore from offshore headquarters have begun to make anticipatory changes.
According to inside sources, Bitget and Bybit are already planning to reorganize their on-the-ground teams due to the MAS warning. Bitget intends to move their Singapore-based staff to other branches in Dubai or Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Bybit is reportedly considering similar moves.
However, representatives of Bitget and Bybit declined to comment on their plans.
Several digital asset firms have warned that hundreds of jobs would be at stake, considering some firms have hundreds of their staff based in Singapore according to data from DeFiance Capital LLC.
Blockchain intelligence firm ChainArgos, which remains unaffected by the notice, viewed the recent notice as having a “severe” impact on crypto firms in Singapore, especially the ones operating mainly offshore.
“This is almost is as good as an evacuation procedure,” said ChainArgos general counsel Patrick Tan.
In the May 30 announcement, MAS informed firms that it will refuse to grant them “transition time” and warned crypto exchanges that license requests leading up to the deadline would only be granted under “extremely limited” circumstances.
Even though Singapore has been hailed as one of Asia’s major crypto hubs, hosting the headquarters of leading crypto firms like Coinbase and Crypto.com, crypto asset ownership have been on the decline among citizens lately.
Just last year, a recent survey found that nearly 50% of investors sold part or all their holdings in the past year, with 67% making profit
