Singapore regulatory sandbox lacks qualified crypto payment providers

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has said that nary businesses person qualified to enactment successful the FinTech Regulatory Sandbox model arsenic cryptocurrency outgo providers. 

Responding to a missive criticizing the Singaporean government’s deficiency of nationalist consultation and oversight connected crypto adoption published successful the Financial Times, MAS clarified that the state does not person a “crypto sandbox,” but alternatively a sandbox that supports a wide scope of FinTech experimentation.

The letter criticised Singapore for “unwisely” allowing crypto companies entree to Singapore’s FAST (Fast and Secure Transfers) interbank outgo system, an physics funds transportation strategy that enables customers of the participating entities to transportation Singapore Dollar funds from 1 entity to different successful Singapore.

Singapore’s FAST (Fast and Secure Transfers) overview. Source: fastpayments.worldbank.org

However, the MAS clarified that each businesses with a valid slope relationship tin entree the FAST system, which includes crypto businesses, stating that “Payments done FAST are successful fiat currencies, not cryptocurrencies.”

The regulator past stated that the rising malware scam cases successful Singapore person got thing to bash with cryptocurrencies, claiming that connected the contrary, specified scams are much prevalent successful the fiat economy:

“These scams entail fraudsters taking power of customers’ mobile devices and effecting unauthorized transfers done the banking strategy successful fiat currencies.”

In its combat against wealth laundering, Singapore provides operational licenses to crypto businesses that tin showcase robust Anti-Money Laundering (AML) controls.

“As these measures are progressively implemented from the extremity of this twelvemonth onwards, Singapore volition person 1 of the strictest regulatory regimes successful the satellite governing retail entree to cryptocurrencies.”

In this regard, the MAS precocious consulted the nationalist connected a suite of regulatory measures to mitigate the risks posed by cryptocurrencies to retail customers.

Related: Coinbase signals EU, Canada, Brazil, Singapore and Australia arsenic priorities

Former MAS chair, Tharman Shanmugaratnam — who has historically considered crypto arsenic risky investments — won Singapore’s statesmanlike race.

The president-elect reportedly erstwhile called crypto assets “highly volatile” and “highly risky arsenic concern products” successful 2021 warnings to Singapore-based users successful his relation arsenic MAS chair.

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