Singapore still aims to be a crypto hub
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) wants to build the city-state into a “crypto hub” fueled by instant settlements, tokenized assets and programmable money, not “speculating in cryptocurrencies,” Ravi Menon, the central bank’s managing director, said at the Singapore FinTech Festival on Thursday.
See related article: Singapore fintech fest raises profile of industry that wants to ‘disappear’
Fast facts
- The most common question asked, according to Menon, is if Singapore wants to be a crypto asset hub.
- “Yes, we want to be a crypto hub,” the central banker said. “But if it is about trading and speculating in cryptocurrencies, that is not the kind of crypto hub we want to be.”
- According to Menon, the real value in the crypto industry comes from tokenizing assets and placing them on a distributed ledger for use cases that increase economic efficiency.
- Singapore aims to create a future where any asset can be fractionalized while drastically reducing trading costs, Menon said.
- Menon’s comments at the conference came after officials in Hong Kong, Singapore’s financial rival in Asia, announced this week at their own annual gathering, the Hong Kong FinTech Week, a series of policies to re-attract digital asset investment.
See related article: Payments platform StraitsX to show real-world stablecoin use at Singapore Fintech Festival
