blockster.com
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), gave licenses to DBS Vickers (DBSV), the brokerage arm of the Singaporean bank DBS Bank and major Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve.
DBS announced the news of the approval in a press release on Friday (October 1, 2021). According to the announcement, the MAS license was given under Singapore's Payment Services Act passed in 2019.
With the new license, DBSV can now directly support institutional and corporate investors to trade digital payment tokens through the DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx). DDEx launched in December 2020 as a members-only bourse, with DBS stating that the platform has witnessed a surge in demand from accredited individuals, family offices, and institutional investors.
Commenting on the license approval, DBS Head of Capital Markets at DBS and Chair of DDEx, said:
"This marks another significant milestone in our ability to provide integrated solutions across the digital asset value chain, from deal origination to tokenization, listing, trading and custody. We believe that DBSV’s licence, coupled with recent enhancements to DDEx such as round the-clock operations since August, could add to DDEx’s volumes in the coming months and accelerate growth momentum for DBS’ digital asset ecosystem."
Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve also got the Major Payment Institution license from the MAS, as announced by the company also on Friday (Octobet 1, 2021). Both DBSV and Independent Reserve got "in principle approval" from the Singaporean regulator back in August.
According to the firm's press release, the company's application was subject to intense regulatory scrutiny from MAS, which included compliance structures, consumer protection measures, and transaction screening.
Also, the approval allows Independent Reserve to offer digital payment token services. Furthermore, the announcement stated that the license makes Independence Reserve the first and only Australian crypto exchange authorized to service retail and institutional investors in Singapore.
Speaking on the latest development, the exchange's CEO Adrian Przelozny, expressed excitement at the company being selected out of 170 global applicants for the MAS license.
Przelozny added:
"With tailormade rules for the crypto industry,Singaporehas the clearest and most detailed licensing requirements of any jurisdiction inAsia. And now, Independent Reserve is one of the first fully licensed crypto exchanges available to Singaporeans, enabling them to quickly and securely use their SGD to get in and out of crypto."
Independent Reserve was established in 2013 and has grown to be one of Australia's popular exchanges. The company later expanded internationally first to Singapore in 2019, to provide over-the-counter (OTC) trading and digital asset services to retail and institutional clients in the country.
Currently, the platform offers US dollar, Australian dollar, New Zealand dollar, and Singapore dollar fiat-crypto trading pairs.