Singapore’s regulatory authorities cannot keep up with their non-licensing policies for crypto assets any longer. Instead, they have announced that they want now to issue crypto licenses and for this very purpose, the regulators are trying to invite digital asset groups to come in and obtain licenses.
The regulators of financial and digital assets in Singapore have decided to grant regulatory licenses and permissions to digital assets’ exchanges. This is for the first time that a sovereign island of Asia is going to take such an initiative. Otherwise, the situation in its neighboring countries is quite the opposite. For example in China, the regulators are trying to oust crypto derivatives.
One of the first crypto exchanges to obtain the operating license is the Independent Reserve, which is a foreign exchange hailing from Australia. The license to operate has been granted to Independent Reserve by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). As per the license, the foreign Australian crypto exchange is authorized officially to offer crypto trade services in Singapore.
It was revealed that this is the first license that has been issued to a crypto exchange by MAS. For the time being, there are more than 170 applications on the same subject that are pending approvals by MAS. However, the authority hasn’t taken any decisions on any of them except for Independent Reserve. Two of the pending applications have been submitted by two very prominent global crypto firms namely Gemini and Binance. However, they too are awaiting approvals from the authority.
For over a period of three years, Singapore’s crypto market is on the run and has been growing exponentially. It is called as if the sovereign island is a magnet that is attracting global crypto space towards itself. The obvious reason being that in Singapore the environment for crypto space is relatively friendly as compared with neighboring countries. With the continuous growth of the crypto industry in Singapore, the state regulators are vigorously keeping an eye on the rapidly growing industry relating to virtual assets. In addition, they are actively trying their best to create a crypto-friendly investment climate in the state. Similarly, authorities are also utilizing its intelligence source to monitor any activities relating to money laundering through the use of virtual currencies.
It was further informed that provisional approvals have already been sanctioned to the global exchange Binance. On the basis of this provisional approval, Binance has been authorized to render its crypto trade services, even if the license is lacking. MAS has decided to issue similar provisional interim sanctions to other crypto exchanges whose applications haven’t been decided yet.
Meanwhile, Independent Reserve announced obtaining the license with a celebration. The company informed that it had applied for the requisite license 15 months ago. However, they have recently been able to get the license and the firm and its entire team are glad that they can officially run the business.
