Blockchain.com Wins Singapore License

London-based crypto exchange Blockchain.com said it has been granted in-principle approval for a Digital Payment Token license by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Reuters was first to report the news.

The report comes one day after another crypto exchange, Coinbase, announced it was granted a similar approval for a Digital Payment Token (DPT) in Singapore.
Backed by investors such as Lightspeed Venture Partners, Blockchain.com will become the 18th crypto firm to operate in Singapore out of roughly 180 that have applied for a payments license since 2020, according to the Reuters report.
Singapore is an attractive spot to grow its institutional business and team, said Blockchain.com in a Medium post, noting half of the company's business comes from institutions.
Other recent regulatory wins for Blockchain.com include a provisional approval to operate in Dubai. The company, of course, hasn't been immune to crypto winter, having been forced to slash 25% of its workforce in July after losing $270 million from lending to failed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
MAS did not immediately return a request for comment.

UPDATE (Oct. 12, 13:30 UTC): Adds confirmation and response from Blockchain.com in story and headline.

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Amitoj Singh

Amitoj Singh is CoinDesk's regulatory reporter covering India. He holds BTC and ETH below CoinDesk's disclosure threshold of $1,000.

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