Singapore's financial regulator has suspended Bitget, a criptocurrency exchange that is involved in a row involving South Korea's biggest boyband, BTS.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has been removed from its website, according to the Guardian. According to its website, the platform claims to have licenses from Australia, Canada and the United States.
According to a report on Sunday, Bitget was suspended after it got into a high-profile dispute over the promotion of the digital currency Army Coin named after the band's followers, known as the BTS army.
In October, the platform was threatened with legal action by the Hybe Corporation, the BTS management company, for promoting Army Coin to traders using an unauthorised image of the band and distributing false information that the coin was made for BTS and intended to maximize its profits.
BTS made history this year after being named the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry as the global recording artist for 2020, becoming the first act to top the annual ranking in a language other than English.
In a statement at the time, Hybe said the coin had no affiliation with BTS and urged anyone who had suffered financial damage linked to Army Coin to file a report at their nearest police station.
We are currently reviewing legal violations, including the infringing of an artist's portrait right, without consulting with the company, and we will take all legal action against infringements and violations. Bitget, founded in Singapore in 2018, sponsors the Italian football team Juventus and claims to have more than 1.5 million users worldwide. The business was valued at more than $1 billion, about 760 m in the latest financing round, according to its website.
The platform reported that it had 11,626 traders handling a 24 hour trading volume of $4 bn as of 30 November. It introduced a Turkish website on 5 November.
The episode demonstrates the complexity and trans-national nature of cryptocurrencies, and comes as the Asian city state seeks to establish itself as the world's leading digital currency centre.
Singapore's Monetary Authority MAS said last month it was introducing strong regulations for companies dealing with cryptocurrencies. In an interview with Bloomberg, Ravi Menon, managing director of MAS, said that it is basically an investment in a future with a future of which is not clear at this point.
He said that he thinks that Singapore is at risk of being left behind because of the fact that it's not to get into this game. We can get a head start and understand its potential benefits as well as its risks by getting early into the game. Bitget was contacted for comment.