R3 To Launch Its First Blockhain Center Of Excellence In Asia

R3, financial innovation firm, has announced its partnership with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to launch its first dedicated distributed ledger technology Center of Excellence in Asia.

This partnership should foster collaboration across traditionally competing institutions in Asia in order to innovate and further the advancement of Blockchain technology.

Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer at the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said:

“The practical spin-offs from fundamental research in distributed ledgers and blockchains are beginning to be realized. MAS is pleased to collaborate with the financial industry through broad, international, consortia such as R3 to create and conduct rigorous experiments that will inform and encourage adoption of these advances.”  

The R3 Asia Lab will be established at Lattice80 in the Central Business District (CBD) of Singapore. According to the announcement, it will host a dedicated research and development centre as well as a physical Centre of Excellence to accommodate visiting specialist DLT technologists, innovators and business leaders. 

A couple of months ago, MAS expressed its interest and concerns about emerging FinTech solutions and their impact.  In August, 2016, MAS has published a “Proposed Activity-based Payments Framework and Establishment of a National Payments Council” paper, with recommendations to review the existing payments regulation in Singapore.