Eight of Singapore’s Crypto Exchanges Were Asked to Avoid Unlicensed Assets

Eight digital currency exchanges, operating on the Singaporean crypto market, were warned not to deal with the trading of securities or futures contracts that have not obtained authorisation from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), according to a statement published by the financial market regulator on May 24.

"The number of digital token exchanges and digital token offerings in Singapore has been increasing. We do not see a need to restrict them if they are bona fide businesses. But, if any digital token exchange, issuer, or intermediary breaches our securities laws, MAS will take firm action. The public should be aware that there is no regulatory safeguard if they choose to trade on unregulated digital token exchanges or invest in digital tokens that fall outside the remit of MAS' rules,” MAS's assistant managing director for capital markets, Lee Boon Ngiap, said.

MAS has already tried to warn the citizens of all the possible risks involved in cryptocurrency trading, claiming that they don’t have any legal recognition and function within an unregulated field. Now the institution is asking crypto coin exchanges to stop trading with unauthorised assets, namely securities and futures contracts.

In the statement, MAS also pointed out that Initial Coin Offering (ICO) issuer had to suspend its activity and not to offer virtual coins to Singapore’s investors. It can renew its fintech business after getting authorisation from MAS, that will prove their recognition on the market.

Names of the eight exchanges and ICO issuer left unknown, with the last one offering trade coins for equity ownership, that was regarded as securities. Furthermore, the regulator added that the ICO had been arranged without any previous registration, thus, breaking the law.