This post was originally contributed by Williams Mugwagwa.
Update: As of 13 Dec 2021, Binance Asia Services, the operator of Binance.sg, has withdrawn its application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to operate a regulated cryptocurrency exchange in the country. Binance.sg will wind down services in Singapore by 13 Feb 2022.
Did you know that Binance is one of the largest, secure, and most trusted cryptocurrency exchanges in the world despite being founded only two years ago?
Binance Singapore, a local syndicate and a third of its kind in the platform’s assembly line of local crypto-to-fiat exchanges, was recently launched in the Southeast Asian country but with far fewer trading pairs than the main exchange.
Binance focused on building crypto-to-fiat versions in an effort to make it easy for you to buy crypto with fiat. Binance has launched similar platforms in Uganda and Jersey, and the overall plan is to have at least two crypto-to-fiat platforms in every continent.
The main Binance exchange suffered a security breach in May 2019 and lost 7,000 BTC valued at $40 million at the time. The founder and CEO of Tron, Justin Sun, offered to refund the lost BTC but Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, politely declined the offer, stating that his startup was not broke.
Why Binance chose Singapore
Singapore has impressed as one of the emerging economies in the last couple of years and this trend is visibly noticeable in the crypto industry. The Singaporean government has welcomed blockchain firms with open arms, prompting new startups to flock to the Asian country because of favorable market conditions.
According to Forbes, CZ has praised the Singaporean government and it’s natural for you to think that this is one of the main reasons why Binance decided to build a branch in the country.
“Absolutely [Singapore will grow into a major market]. The Singaporean government has an in-depth understanding of cryptocurrency and is quite open to financial innovation. So far, based on everything we have seen, we strongly believe Singapore will lead the next financial revolution that is about to happen,”
said the Binance founder.
Binance Singapore strategic partners and investors
Binance received an undisclosed amount of money in funding from Vertex China and Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India for the sole purpose of developing a crypto exchange in the country and possibly develop more crypto-to-fiat exchanges in the region.
Binance Singapore has a partnership with Xfers, a local fintech startup to allow the platform to charge the lowest trading fees compared to any Singaporean crypto exchange. Singapore FAST takes care of deposits and withdrawals on the exchange.
Binance Singapore review
Binance Singapore allows you to buy only five cryptocurrencies – bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, and the exchange’s token Binance Coin (BNB) – using local currency SGD. You can buy digital assets via bank transfers or other cryptocurrencies you have.
You can create your account by visiting the Binance.SG website and clicking the “Register” button. You will be transferred to a window where you will enter your email address, password, and referral ID if applicable.
The exchange will send you an email to confirm your email address. You can log in into your account and set up other settings as two-factor authentication. Key in your details to pair your Xfers account with Binance and you are ready to make a deposit and buy the five digital assets available on the platform.
Pros
- Binance is a secure exchange
- A simple, clean, and easy-to-use interface
- 24/7 customer support
Cons
- The platform only supports three cryptocurrencies and one fiat currency
- Not so great if you don’t have an account with Xfers.
- This is a fiat bridge and cannot be used for trading purposes. This means that traders can only buy cryptocurrencies on this platform and trade them elsewhere.
There is no withdrawal fee charged when moving your money from Binance cash wallet to Xfers. However, the fees vary when converting from one cryptocurrency to another.
This platform was designed to exclusive serve citizens or residents of Singapore. The exchange reduced its trading fees from 0.8 percent to 0.6 percent.
“Previously all trading fees were 0.8%. Now they are only 0.6%. We believe this is by far the most competitive fee structure of any SGD fiat exchange,” said the exchange in a blog post.
Additional features Binance Singapore
Binance Singapore has a referral program that has been extended until December 2019. All registered users who have completed their KYC will get 20 SGD for free if they trade 100 SGD across any of the available trading pairs on the platform.
You can also use a referral link on the platform to invite friends. You will get an additional 20 SGD per referral that trades 100 SGD on the exchange.
Binance hack and its effect on the Singapore branch
Binance was the victim of a single large-scale hack in which hackers siphoned off 7,000 BTC – valued at $40 million at the time – in a single transaction. The hackers used a number of attacks such as phishing and viruses to obtain user data which they exploited for the hack.
The hack caused the price of major digital assets to decline by around 3 percent. Binance announced that the hack did not affect Binance.SG fiat-cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance assured users that Binance.SG is independent of Binance.com and whatever affects the main exchange does not automatically affect the fiat-to-crypto exchange. All services on Binance Singapore continued as usual.
Final thoughts on Binance.SG
Binance Singapore launched in April 2019 after several months of testing in beta mode. The exchange offered limited services and few digital assets but has been gradually adding these in order to give you a better experience and a wide range of cryptocurrencies to choose from.
The fiat bridge offers up to five cryptocurrencies on its platform and there is a possibility that this selection could be increased in the future.
Binance.SG operates separately from Binance.com although they are both built using the same architecture. The main Binance is a full-featured trading platform while Binance Singapore is a fiat bridge for local residents to purchase digital assets using the Singaporean dollar.
Whether you are a trader or a long-term cryptocurrency investor based in Singapore, it is worth registering an account with the platform rated among the best in the industry.
Thank you for this detailed comparison ! Been using Binance SG for a while but frustrated by the lack of ability to get more variety and trade. Possible solution : Buy on Binance SG then transfer to Binance and start trading or buying other coins. any other way?
Binance.sg is terrible. The website crashes and orders cannot be executed at all once trading volume gets moderately high. The daily transaction limits are also extremely low. Might as well just go with regular Binance and skip the Singapore version. The high transaction fees is unjustified given how unstable the platform is.