During the week of Consensus in Singapore, a senior official from the city-state’s Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which is the de facto Central Bank, has expressed his fairly positive thoughts on emerging blockchain technologies.
‘Technologies Are Always Getting Better’
Artificial intelligence, as well as blockchain technologies and their adoption, are to provoke “fundamental” changes in the city-state’s financial system. Speaking on the matter was Damien Pang, who outlined that Singapore is looking to regulate a certain purpose rather than the means of getting there, hinting at a “do no harm” approach to be taken by legislators. He said:
We take an approach where our regulations aim at the purpose rather than the technology platform itself. […] We aim not to directly regulate a specific technology itself, because technologies are always getting better.
A similar sentiment was expressed earlier this month by the chairman of the U.S. CFTC, J. Christopher Giancarlo.
Singapore’s March into Cryptocurrencies
It’s safe to say that the careful approach the city-state is implementing might be paying off. First off, it’s worth noting that Singapore breaks down digital assets in three groups: payment tokens, utility tokens, and security tokens.
According to Pang, MAS plans to enact a payment service law which is going to shed clarity on using payment tokens as a means of transacting. However, the Central Bank has no plans to regulate utility tokens, and it hasn’t yet approved security tokens.
Earlier this year, MAS revealed that Singapore aims to enable seamless cross-border payments through the usage of blockchain technologies. Good news kept on rolling as, later that month, Singapore’s and Japan’s Fintech Associations signed a memorandum for working together on joint projects.
Most recently, in August, Live Bitcoin News reported that an early-stage Singaporean VC will be launching a $10 million investment fund, which is specifically designated for blockchain technology startups as well as for cryptocurrencies.
What do you think of MAS’ position on cryptocurrencies? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!
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