Monetary Authority of Singapore: More than 300 companies have applied for payment or crypto exchange licenses, including Alibaba, Google and other companies

In an interview, Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief Fintech Officer of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), talked about the country's fintech development and also touched on cryptocurrencies and CBDC issues.

Currently, more than 300 companies have applied to MAS for licenses to operate payment or cryptocurrency exchange businesses in Singapore, including well-known companies such as Alibaba, Binance, and Google. Mohanty said that these applications are still being processed and there is no timetable at present. "Issuing such licenses will give companies huge advantages and decisions cannot be made lightly. We will ensure that companies that obtain MAS licenses are trustworthy."
Regarding central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), Singapore has chosen a wholesale CBDC model that is primarily for interbank payments and financial settlements, rather than China's retail CBDC model that is directly for citizens and businesses. The country ranked third in PwC's ranking of interbank/wholesale CBDC progress in April. Mohanty said, "Based on Singapore's situation, it is not obvious what the use of retail CBDC is. Now people can complete remittances with just a few clicks on the screen and without paying any fees. How can you do better than this?"
Regarding cryptocurrency trading, the private sector in Singapore is already investing heavily in this field. The Singapore Stock Exchange is striving to become Asia's BTC and ETH pricing center, and DBS Bank has also launched Asia's first bank-backed cryptocurrency trust solution. However, the Singapore government has repeatedly warned citizens about the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies. Mohanty said: "Bitcoin is a speculative asset, and people should not blindly invest in assets they don't understand. It is very volatile and very complex. MAS is advising the public to be careful through various occasions such as speeches in Congress. If the public must buy such high-risk assets, it is their own choice." But he also said that as far as exchanges are concerned, "We know that the world is turning to digital currencies, CBDCs, stablecoins and all the rest. The first thing to do is to promote the institutionalization of exchanges. Universal platforms such as Partior (a joint venture established in Singapore by JPMorgan Chase, Temasek and DBS Bank, a blockchain-based payment, trading and foreign exchange settlement platform) are becoming the backbone. When the backbone is established, transactions will flow through the backbone and eventually become more mainstream. This shift is valuable for how people view payments and currencies."