Binance negotiates Malaysia license as efforts to re-enter market accelerate

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Binance negotiates Malaysia license

Highlights

Binance has been in talks with the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia for 10 months to secure an official license to re-enter the Malaysian market.
Binance faced a security breach involving U.S.$6.3 billion this week, prompting it to suspend withdrawals and pledge to cover all associated losses.
Binance voluntarily closed the Papua New Guinean kina market on its P2P platform amid a Securities Commission investigation, while stressing that no products linked to the ringgit are currently available.

This article was translated from the original. Read the original version by our correspondent here.

Licensing talks with regulators

As reported by The Edge Malaysia, citing Bloomberg, Binance said it had been in discussions with the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia over the past 10 months about a licensed route to offer its products and services in Malaysia, according to a company spokesperson in a statement on Saturday.

The world’s largest crypto exchange said discussions are now focused on the viability and structure of a licensed business model in Malaysia. The spokesperson declined to provide further details about the type of license being sought.

Approval would give Binance a route to officially re-enter the Malaysian market after more than five years of restrictions. In July 2021, the Securities Commission ordered Binance to cease operations in Malaysia after finding that the company was operating a digital asset exchange illegally at the time. The order included stopping all media and marketing activities and restricting Malaysian investors’ access to Binance’s Telegram groups.

Although the Securities Commission removed Binance from its Investor Alert List in 2024, the regulator added the exchange back to the list earlier this month without giving a reason.

Compliance risks and pressure on operations

This week, Binance also faced a security breach involving as much as U.S.$6.3 billion, equivalent to RM25.6 billion, described as the largest known crypto hack to date. The company suspended withdrawals and pledged to cover all losses as concerns about the risk of hacker attacks in the age of artificial intelligence continue to grow.

In a separate development, Malaysian MP Lim Guan Eng wrote to the Securities Commission in September asking it to investigate whether Binance’s peer-to-peer, or P2P, platform facilitated ringgit transactions through listings denominated in other currencies. His office circulated the letter on Saturday, referring to Binance’s latest security incident.

In response, Binance said it had voluntarily disabled a specific Papua New Guinean kina market on its P2P platform that was unofficially linked to the ringgit, as part of its engagement with the Securities Commission. The company added that the latest complaint concerned an isolated listing by a non-Malaysian user in the Romanian leu market, and stressed that no other products on its platform were linked to the ringgit or served as a substitute for the local currency.

According to a Binance spokesperson, no platform, business or control mechanism can completely prevent malicious actors from seeking to circumvent market rules. Binance said it takes the matter seriously, but does not believe the isolated case reflects an ongoing effort to circumvent Malaysian law, reiterating its commitment to working compliantly with local regulators.

In our previous coverage of Menara’s launch of the Menarabena platform Asia, we examined how the digitization of the construction supply chain is being used to streamline procurement while maintaining a focus on certification, documentation and compliance. The article also discussed collaboration with CIDB Holdings through the Information Centre in Shanghai to expedite certificate applications and ensure continued compliance with product standards and regulatory requirements.

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