The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s main financial regulator, has allowed DBSV and Independent Reserve companies to provide cryptocurrency and digital payment services in the country.
Under the Payment Services Act, the MAS granted Independent Reserve and DBS Bank‘s brokerage arm, DBS Vickers (DBSV), licenses to conduct digital payment token services on October 1. (PS Act).
Independent Reserve has become the first Australian cryptocurrency exchange available to individual and institutional investors in Singapore, according to a statement.
Founded in Australia in 2013, the company launched its first international operations in Singapore in late 2019, providing people and institutions with digital asset exchange and over-the-counter trading services.
DBS Bank said in a separate statement that the new license will allow DBSV to directly serve asset managers and enterprises trading digital payment tokens on the DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx).
DDEx, which launched in December 2020, allows institutional investors to trade major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
In early August, both DBSV and Independent Reserve acquired in-principle approvals from the MAS to operate digital payment token services.
According to Independent Reserve CEO Adrian Przelozny, Singapore has the most stringent licensing standards of any Asian state.
“Australia can learn a lot from Singapore’s meticulous approach to crypto industry licensing. In Australia, there are currently no custodian requirements for digital asset exchanges “Added he.
The recent regulatory permission, according to DDEx chair Eng-Kwok Seat Moey, is a big step forward in the company’s ability to provide a variety of crypto-related services, including tokenization, listing, trading, and custody.
“Now that DBSV has obtained formal regulatory approval from MAS, we are in a stronger position to assist institutional and corporate investors in realizing the growth potential of digital assets as an investment class,” she said.
The latest regulatory approvals came after Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, stopped many products offers on its platform in Singapore in early September after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) warned that the exchange may have violated the country’s PS Act.
Binance was previously on MAS’s investor alert list, which included “unregulated persons who, based on information obtained by MAS, may have been mistakenly interpreted as being licensed or regulated by MAS.”
