The minister in charge of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) recently revealed in a parliamentary response that the agency is considering tighter sanctions in the crypto sector, despite being ahead of many countries in terms of regulations.
Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said, “MAS is carefully considering the introduction of additional consumer protection safeguards. These may include setting limits on retail participation and rules on the use of leverage when transacting in cryptocurrencies.”
MAS introduced strict guidelines in January
Earlier this year, MAS issued guidelines to discourage cryptocurrency trading by general retail investors. The agency warned that trading digital assets was “highly risky and not suitable for the general public”.
And now underlining the recent weakness of the crypto market, Shanmugaratnam said, “Since 2017, MAS has consistently warned that cryptocurrencies are not a suitable investment for the retail public… Has demonstrated risks, with the prices of many cryptocurrencies falling sharply.”
This week, Singapore-based crypto lending platform, Wold, became the latest platform to freeze withdrawals, deposits and trading. Amid volatile market conditions, the provider is also moving towards financial restructuring.
Previously, events such as the Terraform-led collapse and the liquidation of Three Arrows Capital exacerbated the market’s financial woes. So much so that MAS came forward to reprimand hedge fund Three Arrows Capital for misinformation and other violations, such as exceeding the cap for assets under management.
New domestic and global crypto framework
The minister also remarked that MAS is calling on most regulators to prohibit public marketing and advertising of cryptocurrency, ensure disclaimers about its risks, issue guidelines for the sector and remove cryptocurrency ATMs from public areas, among other laws. went ahead.
That said, the response also reiterated the warning that “people in riskier asset classes could lose most of the money they invest”.
But despite strict oversight, the island nation aims to rule the crypto roast in the medium to long term by regulating the region.
And to that end, the official highlighted that the Payment Services Act empowers MAS to impose additional measures on DPT service providers to ensure “better consumer protection, maintain financial stability and safeguard the efficacy of monetary policy”. , in addition to the primary focus of preventing money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
In addition, the minister also indicated that the regulatory issue of the virtual sector is being discussed in various international standard-setting bodies, as he called for global coordination and cooperation for rule making.