Singapore Considers Limiting Retail Participation in Crypto
Singapore is considering whether or not to limit participation of retail traders in crypto.
Despite the ongoing bear market and several crypto crashes, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) won’t rule out amendments to existing crypto legislation and is considering new safeguards that would add more restrictions on retail crypto-trader to further protect general consumers.
The minister-in-charge of MAS Tharman Shanmugaratnam stated that the central bank “has been carefully considering the introduction of additional consumer protection safeguards.”
“These may include placing limits on retail participation, and rules on the use of leverage when transacting in cryptocurrencies,” the minister wrote.
To answer whether the MAS intended to implement further restrictions on crypto trading platforms, Shanmugaratnam noted that the borderless nature of cryptocurrency markets also implies “a need for regulatory coordination and cooperation globally.”
“Since 2017, MAS has consistently warned that cryptocurrencies are not suitable investments for the retail public. Most cryptocurrencies are subject to sharp speculative price swings. Recent events have vividly demonstrated the risks, with prices of several cryptocurrencies falling drastically,” he explained.
To address this, the chairman assured that “these issues are being discussed at various international standard-setting bodies where MAS actively participates.”
Prior to these upcoming safeguards, MAS has already introduced guidelines limiting how crypto firms could advertise to the public last January. These limits include preventing crypto entities from marketing their services in public areas or media that address the public, such as newspapers, broadcast, magazines or social media platforms.
Accordingly, Sopnendu Mohanty, the central bank’s chief fintech officer, said last month in an interview with the Financial Times that the MAS plans to be “brutal and relentingly hard” on “bad behavior” in the crypto industry. As per Mohanty, Singapore had enforced a “painfully slow … extremely draconian due diligence process” for licensing crypto firms in order to protect the wider economy.
On the other hand, during the opening of Point Zero Forum in Switzerland last month Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat stated that he sees web 3, blockchain, non-fungible tokens (NFT), and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) as potential game-changers in the fintech (financial technology) community. (Read more: SG Deputy Prime Minister: Web 3.0, NFT, DAO, are Potential Game Changers)
This article is published on BitPinas: Singapore Considers Limiting Retail Participation in Crypto
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