In Brief:
- Crypto exchange Huobi Global will include Singapore as a restricted jurisdiction to comply with Singapore laws.
- Huobi Global will close all Singapore- based users accounts by 31 March 2022.
- The company has advised its Singapore based users to close out all active positions and withdraw all digital assets before March 31, 2022.
Crypto Exchange, Huobi Global has announced that in order to comply with the laws of Singapore, Singapore will be included as a restricted jurisdiction.
As per the official statement, Huobi Global will be closing the accounts of all its Singapore-based users on March 31, 2022. It also informs that the access to the services by Huobi Global will also be gradually phased out prior to March 31, 2022.
In its statement, the firm has advised that all Singapore-based users should take immediate action to close out all active positions and withdraw all digital assets before March 31, 2022.
According to co-founder Du Jun and Global Strategy Director Jeff Mei, Huobi claims to be expanding its overseas presence to compensate for expelling the Chinese users, which represent half of its total user base and 30% of its revenue.
Interestingly, users from the U.S, Canada, North Korea, Japan, Cuba, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Crimea, are also prohibited from trading on the platform, according to a July 26 user agreement. However, Singapore was also included on that list.
Many crypto firms including Binance’s local affiliate, have applied for Singapore’s Payment Services Act (PSA) licenses. According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) website, Huobi has also applied for a digital token payment license under PSA through its local affiliate Feu International.
It is worth noticing that on September 02, MAS issued an investor warning over Binance’s global website. A few days later, the exchange stopped offering Singapore dollar trading pairs. In September, after China’s central bank launched a crackdown on crypto trading, Huobi announced it will be phasing out mainland China accounts by the end of 2021.
