This makes Coinhako the first local non-bank crypto exchange to receive this in-principle approval, the company said. “Coinhako recognised very early on that the industry would move towards regulation,” Collin Cheong, corporate development director of Coinhako, said, adding that the firm will continue to work to meet MAS’s requirements for a licence. The startup claimed it has seen a 1,000% increase in trading volume in the first eight months of 2021, compared with the whole of 2020.