Singapore Passes New Bill to Tighten Regulations on Crypto Firms

The Singaporean parliament has passed the Financial Services and Markets Bill that seeks to bring additional regulations to the fast-growing crypto ecosystem. Per the new bill, Virtual Assets Service Providers (VASPs) that are indigenous to Singapore but operating abroad will be required to be licensed.

The new provision is a massive detour from the earlier provisions in which these same VASPs do not need to be subjected to the government’s oversight. Trading platforms that operate within Singapore are already under the regulatory oversight of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country’s apex bank that has charted a very clear path for crypto adoption in the country.

One of the central focuses of the new Bill is hinged on the prevention of Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and terrorist financing through the extension of the regulations that govern platforms operating abroad to foreign operators respectively.

“Virtual asset service providers created in Singapore that provide services only elsewhere are unregulated for anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT), which creates reputational risks for the Republic,” said Alvin Tan, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board member.

The regulation has been deemed progressive as Singapore has chosen not to impose an outright ban on digital currencies the way other countries like China have done. Despite its freehand, the country’s regulations are doing all they can to ensure investors and the general public gain as best protection they can while interacting with assets in the space.

Additional Provisions of the New Singapore crypto Regulations

Beyond the licensing provisions that digital currency platforms will be subjected to, the Financial Services and Markets Bill will also cover additional provisions that will further bring oversight to the industry. 

Per the Bloomberg report, the bill will give “greater powers to the Monetary Authority of Singapore to prohibit individuals who are deemed unfit from performing key roles, activities, and functions in the financial industry. These will now include individuals providing payment services and conducting risk management.”

Also, trading platforms will have to secure their platforms with the right security infrastructures as a maximum fine of S$1 million ($737,050) will now be imposed if an exchange suffers a security breach like a hack or data breach.