U.S.-based Crypto exchange Coinbase has gained regulatory authority from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to operate inside the country. The development comes after Coinbase received an In-Principle Approval (IPA) as a Major Payments Institution license holder from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last year. The firm has emphasized that they had identified Singapore as a market vital for Coinbase operations.
According to the reports, the license approval means that Coinbase can expand its services of providing digital payment token services to institutions and individuals alike in the country of Singapore.
The MPI license that Coinbase has acquired means that they are authorized to conduct transactions without being subjected to the transaction limits of $2.2 million for any payment service. Any company that has an MPI license is also free from the monthly transaction limit of $4.4 million for two or more payment services other than money-changing services and e-money account issuance.
This is not the first news that has gone into circulation regarding Coinbase expanding its business into other countries. Coinbase International Exchange, a non-US arm of the Coinbase exchange, gained regulatory approval from the Bermuda Monetary Authority to enable perpetual futures contracts for eligible non-US retail customers.
Coinbase made this announcement in May of 2023. In September of 2023, Coinbase registered the crypto exchange and custodian wallet provider with the Bank of Spain. This meant that Coinbase would offer their products and services to the users in Spain while keeping in compliance with the country’s Crypto Laws.
Coinbase has been expanding its operations in Singapore for quite some time. In the past year, they set up a technology hub in Singapore and have been hiring and training professionals like product managers and engineers who are focused on Web3 technology.
Additionally, their venture capital division has invested in more than 15 startups in Singapore that are involved in Web3 over the last three years. Singapore serves as the central location for Coinbase’s institutional business activities in the Asia-Pacific region.
The firm has stated that the reason it identified Singapore as a good potential market for Coinbase to expand its operations is because more than 30% of Singapore users were found to be holders of cryptocurrency, either currently or in the past. That makes about 1.6 million people potential customers for Coinbase.
Like Coinbase, several major global cryptocurrency firms have been increasingly securing Singapore’s MPI license recently. Crypto data and wallet provider Blockchain.com became the 12th firm to receive the license in August 2023. The USD Coin stablecoin issuer Circle received the MPI license in June 2023, following the crypto exchange Crypto.com.
The recent news of Coinbase expanding its global operations, despite being entangled in an ongoing battle with the SEC, might show users that the firm is working tirelessly to improve its brand image and to point out that they are willing to comply with the crypto regulations of every country they operate and not exploit any loopholes or cross any lines, which the SEC chair Gary Gensler has accused them of doing in the lawsuit against Coinbase.
