Singapore Has No Plans to Ban Crypto: Finance Watchdog Boss

Mr. Ravi Menon, who is a managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore—the core financial watchdog of the city-state—reaffirms his focus on strengthening Singapore’s position as the world’s #1 blockchain hub.

Best approach is not to ban crypto

According to an article by Bloomberg Crypto, Mr. Menon is certain that banning crypto and attacking the Web3.0 segment is not an option for his country.

NEW: “We think the best approach is not to clamp down or ban these things.”

Singapore wants to cement itself as a key player for cryptocurrency-related businesses https://t.co/c28I83TMFb

— Bloomberg Crypto (@crypto) November 2, 2021

Instead of implementing a China-style crackdown, the MAS director stresses that Singapore is going to “raise its safeguards” to combat risks related to cryptocurrency progress.

As a part of this strategy, MAS is going to continue advocating high requirements for crypto businesses interested in obtaining local licenses:

We don’t need 160 of them to set up shop here. Half of them can do so, but with very high standards, that I think is a better outcome.

Singapore has earned a spot on the list of top-tier world fintech and wealth management hubs. However, it is known for a strict licensing policy: in 2020-2021, only three companies out of hundreds of applicants managed to receive MAS licenses.

Why is crypto good for the local economy?

Mr. Menon also mentioned some benefits from cryptocurrency adoption in Singapore. According to him, the crypto segment creates jobs and added value and is fruitful for all sectors of the economy, let alone the fintech space.

At the same time, on Sept. 2, 2021, Singapore cracked down on Binance, putting it on the “alert list” for local investors due to issues with KYC policy.

This restriction was imposed amid a global anti-Binance attack by regulators. The leading CEX was forced to remove SGD pairs and stop onboarding users with Singaporean IP addresses.