The Chief Fintech Officer of Singapore’s regulator (MAS) provided a cordial tone for the cryptocurrency industry. This comes barely days after claiming that the country is brutal and unrelentingly hard towards unacceptable conduct in the crypto industry.
Encouraging Statement from MAS Chief Fintech Officer
Sopnendu Mohanty, The Chief FinTech Officer of MAS, has brandished praises towards leaders of some major crypto firms. He commended several leaders of firms such as Binance, Ripple, and Crypto.com for their inspiring leadership. They have showcased a commitment to building a secure, sustainable, and innovative system to solve the challenges experienced.
Mohanty displayed his thoughts on a LinkedIn post by providing a summary of his thoughts from the Point Zero Forum in Switzerland. He reiterated that the CEOs of these major crypto firms are identifying real economic opportunities. The Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore pointed out that it is heartening to witness the clarity among the CEOs. There is a necessity to develop a responsible and compliant industry. Compliance has been the major talk of cryptocurrencies in recent months and Mohanty’s statements reflect the significant developments in the industry. He most importantly declared that the future of crypto is on the right path.
Impact on Crypto Firms Operations in Singapore and Beyond
His comments are more significant during the current run in the digital currency market to uplift and cast away doubts in the crypto industry. Singapore was amongst the first countries to embrace and support blockchain technology. The Monetary Authority has severally expressed its ambition of developing the country into a global crypto hub. The country had developed a great relationship with the crypto industry until a rift. There was a slow regulatory process for license approvals and a ban on crypto advertising. The ban on crypto advertisement, in particular, was a significant blow to the sector.
Binance is the largest crypto exchange globally. It had a strong presence in Singapore with its Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao moving to reside in the country. Earlier this year, Binance closed its trading platform in Singapore and decamped to Dubai. It cancelled plans to acquire a license in Singapore due to the stringent rules in the country. It assisted its users to transition their holdings to other wallets or third-party services.
It left the company with limited operations in the country. It only has operations serving as a blockchain innovation hub. The hub has initiatives that include incubation programs, blockchain education, and investments. Its most notable investment is in Hg Exchange (HGX), a regional private securities exchange earning a post-money stake of 18%.
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Currently, Binance company is under investigation by various US financial regulators. These include the Securities and Exchange Commission(SEC), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Justice amongst others globally. The recent statements side with the crypto exchange firm.
Ripple is also another exchange engaged in a rift with US regulators on their XRP token. However, it has a massive influence on the international footprint. Ripple is strengthening its workforce by doubling down. Brooks Entwistle, Managing director for APAC and MENA for Ripple, announced that the company is looking to exploit its first-mover advantage by being more aggressive in hiring, growth, investments, and strategic opportunities in the next 12 months. Its current hiring projection for the remainder of this year is 300 employees. Almost half of these are to be based outside the United States.
Ripple is already present in Singapore with its partnership with Tranglo, a significant stake for Asia’s leading cross-border payments specialist. The partnership has scaled the footprint of Ripple’s global financial network, RippleNet. Ripple Net leverages blockchain technology to assist various partners on a global network to speed up their business performance and scale. It consists of a superior end customer experience, simple partner networks, liquidity management solutions, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and lines of credit to facilitate real-time payments.
Crypto Lists foresees the recent statement by the MAS Chief Fintech Officer as an indication that the Monetary Authority is mending its relationship with the cryptocurrency industry. It sets to attract the major crypto firms back into the country. It is picking up the pace on licenses and has recently issued three principal approvals, including the cryptocurrency exchange, Crypto.com.
Mohanty’s post also expressed some restraint in full gratitude. He also cautioned on the next steps to be taken by the cryptocurrency industry for its success. He detailed that Web3.0 is a promising industry showing great potential. He calls for technological maturity in the Web3.0 space to avoid incidences of speculators and scammers that may mar the significant progress in the industry.
Nonetheless, his comments are a great boost for crypto firms such as Binance to re-establish themselves in the soon-to-be global crypto hub and benefit from its interest.