MAS recommended that cryptocurrency service companies refrain from offering credit to clients or accepting credit card payments from them.
In response to the collapse of the Singaporean cryptocurrency hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has proposed new rules to better govern the industry.
The central bank of Singapore has released two consultation papers on ideas for regulating the activities of stablecoin issuers and digital payment token service providers (DPTSP) under the Payment Services Act.Both consultation papers, which were released on October 26th, seek to lower consumer trade risks and raise stablecoin-related transaction standards.
The first paper contains suggestions for services including digital payment tokens (DPTs) or other well-known cryptocurrencies, such Bitcoin.( BTC $20,548), Ether (ETH $1,522) or XRP (XRP $0.46).The authority claimed that using “any form of credit or leverage in the trading of DPTs” would “magnify losses,” possibly resulting in losses greater than a customer’s investment.
Section 3.20 of the MAS proposal would prohibit DPTSPs from offering “any credit facility” to retail clients, whether it be in the form of fiat money or cryptocurrency. The regulator contends that cryptocurrency service providers shouldn’t be permitted to receive payments made with credit cards in exchange for cryptocurrency services.
In light of the recent failure of several businesses in the cryptocurrency industry, notably 3AC’s insolvency in June, the central bank stated,
“MAS proposes that DPTSPs should ensure that customers’ funds are segregated from the DPTSPs’ assets, and held for the advantage of the client.”
In addition, the MAS recommended that DPTSPs take into account using consumer testing to gauge the awareness of crypto hazards among retail customers.
A set of commercial and operational requirements for stablecoin issuers are provided in the second consultation document, which makes regulatory approach proposals for stablecoins in Singapore. MAS intended to prohibit stablecoin issuers from lending or staking single-currency pegged stablecoins (SCS), as well as from lending or trading other cryptocurrencies, under section 4.21 of the paper.
“This is to ring fence and mitigate risks to the SCS issuer in lieu of a comprehensive risk-based capital regime. Such activities can still be conducted from other related entities,”
the consultation paper reads. The regulator also proposed to introduce a minimum base capital of $1 million or 50% of annual operating expenses of the SCS issuer. The capital should be held at all times and include liquid assets, MAS added.
The regulator invited interested parties to submit their comments on the proposals by Dec. 21, 2022.As previously reported, the crypto winter of 2022 has become particularly harmful for cryptocurrency lenders as many such firms became unable to pay out their obligations due to a massive market drop.
Some Bitcoin analysts are confident that crypto lending can still survive this bear market but they need to solve issues related to short-term assets and short-term liabilities.
