MAS Pins Hopes on Stablecoins While Pushing Back on Crypto Advertising
(15 November 2022 – Singapore) The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has banned crypto advertising in public venues while remaining broadly supportive of stablecoins as the future of e-money.
Singapore banned the advertising of crypto on public transport, public venues, broadcast media, periodical publications, and public websites in 2022.
A digital ecosystem of tokenised assets has the potential to unlock value by facilitating trade in bonds, cash, or art on distributed ledgers, but private cryptocurrencies shouldn’t be supported by regulators, according to policymakers at the MAS. The MAS acknowledges that while it cannot ban cryptocurrencies in Singapore, it strongly discourages consumers from buying them and proposed that licensed exchanges limit access to consumers based on a minimum financial knowledge, or sophistication.
Singapore’s move to all but ban private cryptocurrencies from the public sphere hasn’t stopped it pressing ahead with plans to allow what it defines as stablecoins pegged to a single currency (SCS). Banks in Singapore such as DBS will be allowed to issue SCS under the proposals with no additional reserve backing, and equivalent prudential requirements applicable to the tokenised form of bank liabilities given existing capital and liquidity frameworks.
“SCS issuers must hold reserve assets in cash, cash equivalents or short-dated sovereign debt securities that are at least equivalent to 100 per cent of the par value of the outstanding SCS in circulation, and these assets must be denominated in the same currency as the pegged currency. Requirements on audit and segregation of reserves, and timely redemption at par value will also apply” the MAS said in a statement.
Subscribe