Catenaa, Wednesday, July 09, 2025- Binance plans to keep more than 400 remote employees in Singapore, even as the city-state enforces stricter licensing rules targeting crypto firms that serve overseas clients without approval.
Singapore’s Monetary Authority has directed locally incorporated firms to obtain licenses or halt offshore operations by June 30. The move has prompted several platforms, including Bybit and Bitget, to consider relocating. However, Binance’s operations remain largely unaffected, according to a Bloomberg report.
Most of Binance’s Singapore-based staff work in non-customer-facing roles such as compliance, human resources, data analysis and technical support. The absence of a formal office structure, coupled with the company’s “remote-first” model, keeps it outside the scope of new requirements under the Financial Services and Markets Act of 2022.
The MAS clarified that remote employees working for foreign entities, and who do not serve local clients, do not trigger the licensing mandate. Binance, listed on the MAS Investor Alert List since 2021, has not exited the country entirely but is barred from offering services to Singaporean residents.
Singapore emerged as a major Asian crypto hub over recent years, but regulatory scrutiny has increased following collapses such as Three Arrows Capital in 2022. The new regulatory push is designed to close gaps that allowed firms to operate cross-border without adequate oversight.
Binance’s decision to maintain its remote workforce in Singapore highlights the ongoing friction between decentralized business models and jurisdiction-based financial regulation.
