Singapore: Digitized Securities Exchange Gets Regulator’s Go-Ahead

Capital markets blockchain platform iSTOX has graduated from Singapore's regulatory sandbox and been approved as a recognized market operator and capital markets services licensee.

Singapore’s The Business Times confirmed on Feb. 3 that the platform, developed by blockchain infrastructure firm ICHX Tech, is now fully operational and licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s central bank.

A regulated digitized securities platform

MAS, which also serves as Singapore's financial regulator, launched its FinTech Regulatory Sandbox to encourage local projects to pursue innovative financial products and services within a secure, efficient and low-regulatory pressure environment .

ICHX Tech’s iSTOX will offer issuance, settlement, custody and secondary trading for digitized securities — heralding a new, fully-regulated arrival on the blockchain scene in a major global financial center.

Now that it has graduated from MAS’ sandbox, restrictions on iSTOX will be lifted, including limitations on the size of the issuances it can host and the number of investors that can draw in. The firm is reported to have confirmed its graduation during a press conference Monday.

Recent local developments in crypto

As reported, MAS has recently proposed bringing crypto derivatives trading under its purview. Its proposal would make the trading of derivatives based on underlying assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) subject to the city-state’s Securities and Futures Act.

Together with state investment firm Temasek Holdings and the United States’ largest bank, JPMorgan Chase, MAS also created a prototype multi-currency blockchain-based payments network at the end of last year.