Singapore grants early approval for first wave of cryptocurrency exchanges

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted preliminary approval for one of the city-state’s first cryptocurrency exchanges, allowing Independent Reserve to operate as a regulated provider for digital payment token services.

“To be one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges to be notified by the MAS of our in-principle approval is a reflection of the robustness of the policies, procedures and risk management systems that we have put in place,” Adrian Przelozny, CEO of Independent Reserve, said in a statement.

“It provides certainty for us as industry participants and security for our customers.”

Singapore’s central bank has received 170 applications from digital payment token service providers, and recently notified several applicants that it is prepared to grant them licences under the Payment Services Act, a bank spokesperson said in a e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

Applicants who have received these notifications don’t yet hold licences — these will be granted to an applicant provided it puts in place necessary measures to meet MAS’s requirements, the bank said.

A number of applicants have not met the MAS’s standards in the areas of preventing money laundering and terrorism financing, as well as setting up technology risk controls, according to the statement. About 30 applications, or 18% of the total, have been withdrawn after engagement with MAS, and two have been rejected.

“MAS takes a serious view of weaknesses in controls” and “will reject applicants who fail to meet the required standards”, the spokesperson said.

Several applicants are in the final stages of review for getting a licence to operate as digital payment token service providers, Singapore’s senior minister and chair of the MAS, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, said in reply to a question in parliament on July 26. About 90 service providers are operating under an exemption, he said.

“While operationally, things will not change from receiving the in-principle approval, consumers will have the peace of mind that we and others that will receive their in-principle approvals have met MAS’s high standards,” Raks Sondhi, MD of Independent Reserve in Singapore, said on Tuesday.

Established in Australia in 2013, Independent Reserve embarked on its international expansion plans in late 2019, setting up its first overseas operations in Singapore to provide digital asset exchange and OTC trading services.

Bloomberg News. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com