Binance in Talks with Malaysian Regulators on License, Seeking Return to Local Market

October 31 — According to Bloomberg, Binance is in talks with Malaysian regulators about obtaining a license to operate in the country. A Binance spokesperson said that over the past 10 months, Binance has been in contact with the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bank Negara Malaysia to explore a licensed path for providing products and services in Malaysia, with discussions covering "the feasibility and structure of a licensed business model in Malaysia." If approved, Binance would be able to formally return to the Malaysian market, where it has been restricted for more than five years.

In July 2021, the Securities Commission Malaysia found that Binance was then illegally operating a digital asset exchange and ordered it to cease operating in Malaysia, including halting all media and marketing activities. The commission removed Binance from its investor alert list in 2024, but earlier this month re-added it without stating a reason. Malaysian MP Lim Guan Eng previously wrote to the Securities Commission requesting an investigation into whether Binance's P2P platform facilitated ringgit transactions through advertisements denominated in other currencies. Binance responded that it had voluntarily shut down the Papua New Guinean kina market on its P2P platform that was informally pegged to the ringgit, and said the latest complaint involved only an isolated advertisement by a non-Malaysian user in the Romanian leu market.