- Singaporean regulators have warned that not all crypto-related operations are regulated in the nation.
- Chairman Tharman said crypto trading firms would be subject to the Payment Services Act 2019.
- Tharman encouraged crypto businesses to take additional care to prevent money laundering and terrorist funding.
The Singaporean government has recently warned that not all crypto-related operations are regulated in the nation. Furthermore, the number of individuals interested in establishing crypto businesses remains unknown to the regulator unless they apply for a central-bank license.
In response to a parliamentary inquiry, Monetary Authority of Singapore Chairman Tharman Shanmugaratnam indicated that businesses that buy and sell digital payment tokens or facilitate their exchange would be subject to Payment Services Act 2019 (PS Act), stating:
MAS would not have information on the number of parties interested in setting up cryptocurrency investment companies in Singapore unless they apply for a license from MAS.
Similarly, Singapore’s central bank has issued a warning about the potential for criminal abuse of privacy coins and wallets used in cryptocurrency transactions to protect the anonymity of the people making them.
In a separate statement, Tharman advised that companies providing services for digital payment tokens that facilitate customer transactions involving anonymity features like privacy coins, privacy wallets, and mixers needed to take additional precautions to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
Meanwhile, Tharman added that Singapore isn’t the only jurisdiction where some digital asset-related operations are unregulated. He claimed that unauthorized businesses might be uncovered through the surveillance conducted by Singapore’s monetary authorities.
If the central bank has reason to believe an applicant is engaged in illegal activity, in addition to rejecting the application, it will report the case to the police for inquiry, Tharman added.
Recent months have seen the bankruptcy or closure of a number of Singapore-based businesses, including the Three Arrows Capital hedge fund, the US$40 billion collapse of the Terra-LUNA stablecoin project, and the Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Eqonex Ltd.
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