Regulatory And Other Developments In Singapore On Cryptocurrency And Bitcoin Exchanges – Technology – Singapore – Mondaq News Alerts

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In our earlier CNPupdate article published on 9 May 2018, we discussed theregulatory approach to cryptocurrency and bitcoin exchanges inSingapore. In this article, we look at the regulatory developmentsfollowing the commencement of the Payment Services Act 2019("PS Act") on 28 January 2020.

Along with the PS Act, the following key regulations relating tothe new payment services framework have also come into effect on 28January 2020:-

Entities who operate or intend to operate Cryptocurrency andBitcoin Exchanges in Singapore (collectively,"Exchange Operators") may be required tocomply with the licensing requirements for providing a"digital payment token service" and operating a"digital payment token exchange" under the PSAct.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (the"MAS") formed a new Payments Departmentin February 2020 to supervise the payment services industry inSingapore the ("PD"). The PD isresponsible for supervising the regulation of the payments industryin Singapore. The PD formulates policies on the regulation ofpayment services, and supervises payment services providers (e.g.cross-border money transfer service providers, digital paymenttoken service providers and money-changers) as well as paymentsystems (e.g. GIRO, FAST, NETS Electronic Funds Transfer atPoint-of-Sale). PD also supervises non-bank credit and charge cardissuers regulated under the Banking Act, and credit bureausregulated under the Credit Bureau Act.

Over recent months, there have also been some notabledevelopments in the cryptocurrency landscape in Singapore. iSTOX, adigitised securities trading platform, graduated from the MAS'Fintech Regulatory Sandbox on 1 February 2020 [link]. Intercontinental Exchange, an approvedexchange regulated by the MAS, launched the Bakkt bitcoincash-settled monthly futures contract in Singapore on 9 December2019 [link]. Xfers, a provider of e-money issuanceservice, announced on 7 November 2019 that it plans to issue theXSGD token (powered by Zilliqa), a Singapore-dollar backed andpegged "stablecoin" under the project nameStraitsX [link].

This update is provided to you for general information andshould not be relied upon as legal advice.

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Regulatory And Other Developments In Singapore On Cryptocurrency And Bitcoin Exchanges - Technology - Singapore - Mondaq News Alerts