Vertex Invests In Cryptocurrency Exchange Binance For Expansion In Singapore

Vertex Ventures, owned by a state-owned investment company, has announced investments in the largest crypto-exchange Binance to facilitate its expansion in Singapore.

Vertex Ventures is a subsidiary of the Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings. The company was founded in 2015 as a global network of investor operators who manage portfolios in the US, China, Israel, India and Southeast Asia. The company focuses on early investments and currently has assets under management of about $ 2.5 billion.

According to the release, the investment is a joint effort of Vertex Ventures China and Vertex Ventures in Southeast Asia and India and aims to support Binance in the development of cryptocurrency exchanges in Singapore as well as other crypto-services across South Asia. Binance initially announced its plans to establish a crypto-Fiat exchange in Singapore in September.

Commenting on Binance’s plans to enter the Southeast Asian market, Wei Zhou, chief financial officer of the crypto-exchange, explained: “we are moving forward to create a blockchain ecosystem and work with all stakeholders in Singapore to support ongoing innovation in the local FINTECH space.” Binance operations in Singapore comply with customer registration (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

Earlier this month, Binance announced the launch of its crypto-Fiat exchanger in Uganda. Wei said the country’s first cryptocurrency exchange will help to maintain sustainable economic stability in Africa, noting that “the company plans to attract more innovation to the region.”

This month, Binance also collaborated with data provider and research firm Chainalysis to improve detection of suspicious transactions. Chainalysis will be expected to facilitate the process of customer registration compliance (KYC) and counter-terrorism (AML) programs by using real-time account monitoring to track the origin of each transaction made on the Binance platform.