Singapore exposes crypto exchange for disputes with the K-POP group BTS

Singapore's financial supervisory authority has exposed a prominent digital currency exchange in the center of a number of crypto pension systems that claim connections to South Korea's largest Boygroup BTS.

Singapore Step, the local operation of Bitget, a jersey sponsor of the Italian football team Juventus, is to cease, as the city -state tries to establish itself as a global cryptocurrency center.

In October,

bitget was threatened by the BTS agency Hybe with legal steps because of the promotion of the digital monetary army, coin named after the enthusiastic followers of the group BTS Army. The owner and creator of the coin is unknown.

The platform had advertised for the army Coin as a way to give BTS members lifelong financial support, "so that they do not have to worry about their survival, but let them do what they want". Hybe said the coin has no connection to BTS.

The episode shows the challenges that regulatory authorities are faced with who try to keep the crypto industry in chess, since digital currencies are becoming more and more accepted by private investors.

Last week, the Spanish market supervision criticized the football player Andrés Iniesta because of a social media contribution, the Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange.

Singapore, a free trade company and financial center, was more open to the technology towards regional competitors such as Hong Kong and Tokyo.

Popular cryptocurrency companies Binance, Ripple and Coinbase have applied for licenses and received an exceptional permit from the Monetary Authority of Singapore to serve both private customers and institutional customers.

Bitget also received an exemption, which was, however, removed in July, according to a person familiar with the matter. Both Bitget and the MAS refused to announce details on the reasons for the lifting of the exemption through Bitget.

The services of Bitget were still available in Singapore until the end of November when the army applied Coin and its website continued to claim that it had a MASE approval.

The company has since removed the MAS-LOGO from its website after it was contacted by the Financial Times and blocked users from Singapore to access its app and website. Bitget still claims to have licenses in the USA, Canada and Australia.

Bitget did not respond to inquiries from the FT why their services were still available for residents of Singapore even after the exemption was lifted.

In the meantime, Army Coin has also been listed at COINTER, another cryptocurrency exchange with connections to Singapore. In the announcement of Cointiger it says: Coin "exists for the benefit of BTS" and will "really support you financially".

Hybe made an explanation in October, in which it was called that Coin had "no connection" to BTS and warned that it would also take "legal steps", but leaned a comment on the army from Coin Creator.

The Coin users can continue to buy and sell in other legal systems at Bitget, including in South Korea, although the trade was extremely volatile.

An FT analysis showed the coin fluctuated in one day until 78 times its value and rose between $ 1,000 and $ 78,000 back and forth within minutes.

The difficulty for the supervisory authorities in Singapore, like any jurisdiction, consisted that they could not prevent people from buying risky assets, said Varun Mittal, author of Singapore: The Fintech-Nation .

"If someone absolutely wants to spend money on these stock exchanges, the supervisory authorities cannot stop him," said Mital.

crypto companies have strengthened their advertising measures in order to benefit from the growing interest of investors. The cryptocurrency platform Crypto.com, based in Singapore, paid more than $ 700 million in November for the name rights at the Staples Center, a stadium in Los Angeles.

Bitget announced his sponsorship deal with Juventus in September. The name and logo of the stock exchange appear on the team's black and white jerseys as the first “sleeve sponsor” of the club.