 | Get all the essential market news and expert opinions in one place with our daily newsletter. Receive a comprehensive recap of the day's top stories directly to your inbox. Sign up here! |
(Kitco News) - Singapore continues to advance itself as a hub for digital assets as the island country’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), has granted blockchain payments firm Ripple in-principle regulatory approval to offer digital asset payments and token products in the city-state.
According to a press release from Ripple, the MAS approved the company’s application for a Major Payments Institution (MPI) License, “which will allow Ripple Markets APAC Pte Ltd (Ripple’s Singapore arm of the global business) to offer regulated digital payment token products and services” in Singapore.
“In short, this approval sets Ripple well on its way to further scaling customer use of crypto-enabled payments [through its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service] in Singapore and across the APAC region,” Ripple said.
This is a notable achievement for Ripple as the MAS has granted fewer than 20 in-principle approvals and licenses to date, providing an opportunity for the company to establish a foothold in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.
“Singapore is a leading global financial center, and a prominent gateway to business in Asia Pacific,” said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple. “We’re incredibly proud to receive an in-principle license from the MAS, reaffirming our commitment to the region and ongoing proactive engagement with regulators globally.”
Ripple said its ODL service “experienced unprecedented business momentum globally in 2022,” with a majority of this growth coming from its Singapore operations.
“As a result of this monumental growth trajectory, Ripple doubled its headcount in Singapore over the past year across key functions such as business development, compliance, finance, legal, and sales – with plans to continue increasing its presence in the world’s fastest growing region,” the press release said.
The MAS has been increasing its efforts to regulate and expand Singapore’s blockchain industry over the past year, stepping in to fill the gap in regulatory clarity that has plagued crypto firms in the U.S.
“As more countries develop regulatory frameworks for crypto, many are looking to Singapore’s early leadership in developing a clear taxonomy and licensing framework,” said Stu Alderoty, Chief Legal Officer of Ripple. “This in-principle regulatory approval from the MAS will enable us to better support our forward-looking customers looking to hone in on blockchain and crypto technologies to build a more inclusive and borderless financial system.”
|
| Ripple announces new collaborations with the Central Bank of Colombia and the University of Toronto |
In November, the central bank granted stablecoin issuers Circle Internet Financial and Paxos approval for MPI licenses to operate in the region. The licenses enabled the firms to offer stablecoin services and other digital payment token products within Singapore.
In May, the MAS also granted Circle Internet Singapore, an affiliate of Circle Internet Financial, an MPI license. This allowed Circle Singapore to offer digital payment token services, cross-border money transfer services and domestic money transfer services in the city-state via its various products and services, including the Circle Account, which allows institutional customers access to USDC.
And to help address the issue of a global regulatory framework for digital assets, the MAS released a whitepaper on Wednesday calling for the creation of a common protocol that specifies the conditions for the use of various types of digital money, including central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenized bank deposits and stablecoins.
The main focus of the whitepaper is the concept of Purpose Bound Money (PBM), which enables senders to specify conditions, such as validity period and types of shops, when making transfers in digital money across different systems.
“The MAS continues to be a global leader in establishing clear rules of the road to recognize the innovation and real-world utility of digital assets, and its benefits to the global financial system,” Garlinghouse said. “We look forward to strengthening this partnership to collectively propel the growth and development of the digital assets ecosystem in Singapore.”
