Singapore wants to be a hub for blockchain in finance, just not speculative crypto trading, MAS says

Singapore inactive wants to beryllium a hub for integer assets, but not 1 for speculating connected cryptocurrencies, said Ravi Menon, managing manager of cardinal slope the Monetary of Singapore.

"If a crypto hub is astir experimenting with programmable money, applying integer assets for usage cases oregon tokenizing fiscal assets to summation ratio and trim hazard successful fiscal transactions, yes, we privation to beryllium a crypto hub," said Menon successful his opening code astatine the Singapore Fintech Festival 2022 connected Thursday.

Tokenizing a fiscal plus involves converting its ownership rights into integer tokens.

DBS Bank is testing out Singapore's archetypal integer wealth unrecorded aviator for authorities vouchers, enabling merchants to programme and self-execute the organisation and usage.

"But if it is astir trading and speculating successful cryptocurrencies, that is not the benignant of crypto hub we privation to be," said Menon. 

Singapore has ambitions to go a planetary crypto hub, but has been cracking down connected the industry aft galore retail investors mislaid their beingness savings to crypto trading. The city-state has repeatedly warned that cryptocurrency trading is "highly risky and not suitable for the wide public" owed to its volatile and speculative nature. It adjacent banned crypto advertizing successful nationalist areas and connected societal media successful January 2021 and projected caller measures to support retail investors precocious pursuing the $60 cardinal collapse of Terra's Luna. 

Still, Singapore has openly shown its support for blockchain exertion and has embarked connected assorted projects. Those see Project Ubin, which successfully completed its experimentation utilizing blockchain for the clearing and colony of payments and securities.

Another is Project Guardian, which precocious completed its archetypal manufacture pilot that progressive DBS Bank, JPMorgan and SBI Digital Assets Holdings conducting transactions successful tokenized overseas speech and authorities bonds. 

"Project Guardian's archetypal aviator has demonstrated the imaginable for reducing risks successful executing trades," said Menon. 

"These projects strive to summation ratio successful the merchandise worth chains, little businesslike issuance and servicing costs and amended transparency and accessibility. We judge Project Guardian tin assistance pave the mode for the adjacent improvement of fiscal markets successful Singapore," said Menon.

MAS volition beryllium pursuing up with 2 caller manufacture pilots — 1 with Standard Chartered Bank starring an inaugural to research the issuance of tokens linked to commercialized concern assets and the different with HSBC and UOB moving alongside Marketnode to alteration autochthonal integer issuance of wealthiness absorption products.

In his speech, Menon besides announced that the MAS volition beryllium launching Project Ubin+, a planetary inaugural connected the cross-border speech and colony of overseas currency transactions utilizing wholesale cardinal slope integer currencies. 

Project Ubin was archetypal started successful 2016 and is the motorboat pad for the improvement of Partior, a blockchain-based payments clearing and colony web by DBS Bank, JPMorgan and Temasek.