Beleaguered Binance Seeks Singapore Crypto Permit

Binance intends to take another stab at securing a license to offer crypto services in Singapore, pivoting from retail to corporate clients, even as the digital assets giant comes under increasing scrutiny from US regulators, Nikkei Asia reported.

Photo Insert: That the company has so far issued confused and sometimes contradictory responses to the findings does not inspire confidence.

The world's largest crypto exchange will have its custodial arm apply for a permit to offer such services "in due course," according to executives from the unit even as CoinDesk reported that Binance can’t get out of the rabbit hole in explaining what happened to the $1.8-billion in USDC owned by investors.

Reporting for CoinDesk, Antonio Masiello and David Z. Morris said a new and detailed investigation by Forbes has raised significant questions about the management and custody of customer assets and stablecoin collateral by Binance.

That the company has so far issued confused and sometimes contradictory responses to the findings does not inspire confidence, particularly in a post-FTX era of rightfully widespread suspicion of centralized custodians with off-chain balance sheets.

Forbes reported this week that on a single day, Aug. 17, 2022, $1.78 billion worth of collateral moved out of Binance wallets intended to back stablecoins, particularly b-USDC, a wrapped version of Circle’s USDC.

According to Forbes’ on-chain analysis, the facts of which Binance has not disputed, $1.2 billion of this was sent to trading firm Cumberland DRW, with other amounts going to now-collapsed hedge fund Alameda Research, Tron founder Justin Sun and crypto infrastructure and services firm Amber Group.

Forbes said this outflow was not accompanied by a corresponding reduction in the circulating supply of b-USDC tokens.

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