The use of distributed ledger technology can bring efficiencies to many aspects of the lifecycle of financial products, from listing and issuing through to the settlement of trades. Singapore Exchange, or SGX, has announced a joint venture with investment firm Temasek to use DLT to streamline the issuance and trading of financial products listed on its platform. According to a Friday report from Nikkei Asia, this will initially consider bonds, funds and sustainable financial products, and it may be extended in the future to cover other asset classes such as equities. SGX has previously collaborated with Temasek and banking giant …

Rare Cask Holdings has listed a tokenized rare whiskey collection on the Singapore-based Hg Exchange. The premium whiskey collection — “Casks of Distinction” — was tokenized on the Zilliqa blockchain based on its ZRC-2 token standard. Commenting on the whiskies in the tokenized collection, Saayan Choudhury, senior director of commercial technology at Zilliqa told Cointelegraph: “The Casks of Distinction represent a collection of rare, high-quality single-malt scotch whisky casks being held and matured at Scottish distilleries, including a Port Ellen 1979, Mortlach 1993, Caol Ila 1990, Benrinnes 1992 and a Talisker 1989 — each of which are estimated to mature …

Crypto-custody provider and securities firm, Propine, has graduated from the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s fintech regulatory sandbox program, emerging with a Capital Markets Services License and the green light to commence full operations. The Singapore-based securities services firm for institutional clients was admitted entry to the MAS regulatory sandbox on Nov. 8, 2019 and participated for just over a year before being granted approval to exit on Jan. 7, according to a recent post on the firm’s website. Singapore financial law states that a company must hold a Capital Markets Services License if it wishes to conduct business activities regulated …

As the use of cryptocurrencies continues to spread around the world, a number of countries have established themselves as leaders in adoption. COVID-19 has dominated 2020, and the effects of the ongoing pandemic have stifled many economies. However, the cryptocurrency space has enjoyed a year of resurgence that has seen decentralized finance become a major trend, while Bitcoin (BTC) has finally surpassed its former all-time high of 2017. It is worth noting that governments, policymakers and financial regulators have become far more clued-in on cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology over the past two years. This has lent a hand to the …

OSL, a major digital asset platform in Asia and a unit of Fidelity-backed BC group, has been officially licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong. According to a Dec. 15 announcement, the new license allows OSL Digital Securities to operate regulated brokerage and automated trading services for digital assets. The news comes shortly after the SFC agreed in principle to issue OSL a license in August 2020. According to the announcement, OSL has successfully undergone the SFC’s strict vetting requirements. At launch, OSL Digital Securities’ digital asset trading platform will support major digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC) …

After anticipating its plans in October, DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, is establishing a new cryptocurrency exchange division called DBS Digital Exchange. Announced on Thursday, the venture is also backed by SGX, Singapore’s largest derivatives and asset exchange, which owns a 10% stake in the crypto platform. The crypto exchange will only be accessible to institutional and accredited investors, who will be able to trade Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and XRP. In addition, DBS Digital Exchange will provide a platform for tokenizing assets such as shares in unlisted companies, bonds and private equity funds. It will be deeply …

Speaking at Singapore Fintech Festival, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said that "third-generation blockchain technology" would see digital currency "in the hands of hundreds of millions, if not billions of users." Allaire featured on a panel alongside the CEO of Facebook’s 'Diem' Association (formerly Libra Association) Stuart Levey, Coinbase CPO Surojit Chatterjee, and Soramitsu CEO Makoto Takemiya, to discuss the question: Can Digital Currencies Birth the Next Generation of World-Class Payment Systems?. Allaire argued that digital currencies are still very early in their development but are about to take a leap analogous to that from dial-up internet to broadband. “We’re right …

Switzerland’s principal stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, and Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings have announced a joint cryptocurrency-related venture. At the Singapore Fintech Festival on Dec. 8, the firms' digital asset-related subsidiaries, SIX Digital Exchange and SBI Digital Asset Holdings, announced that they are launching a new platform in Singapore. The venture will target regulated institutional clients, implementing technologies and market expertise from both SBI and SIX. The platform will include a wide range of services like issuing, listing, trading, CSD infrastructure and custody of digital assets and cryptocurrencies, as well as regulated digital asset securities. The platform is expected …

Singapore’s burgeoning blockchain industry has identified asset tracking and traceability as the top use case for distributed ledger technology, underscoring the need for better supply chain management in a post-pandemic world. The findings were presented Monday in the "2020 Singapore Blockchain Ecosystem Report" by PwC in collaboration with OpenNodes, IBM, Ernst & Young and others. The report, which is based on a July survey of industry players, “gives a qualitative overview of the key developments and trends in Singapore’s blockchain ecosystem.” When asked about the various applications of blockchain technology, 52% of respondents identified asset tracking and traceability — more …

China Construction Bank, the world’s second-largest bank by assets, is cooperating with Malaysian and Singaporean partners to test blockchain technology for use in the bond market. As previously reported, China Construction Bank’s branch in Labuan, Malaysia, had initially pursued a partnership with a Labuan-based fintech firm to issue what was hailed as prospectively the first-ever blockchain-based digital security to be issued by a Chinese financial institution. CCB Labuan’s plan had been to use the Ethereum blockchain to issue bonds and raise up to $3 billion in total, starting with a tranche of $58 million, from both individuals and institutions. Within …

The Australian government is trialing the use of blockchain technology for intergovernmental document exchanges with Singapore as the latest action in a series of pro-blockchain efforts. It follows hot on the heels of the establishment of a new network promoting blockchain to public servants. On Nov. 23, the Australia Border Force launched a blockchain trade trial in collaboration with Singapore Customs and Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority to test digital verification systems. ABF Commissioner Michael Outram explained that the trial will help digitize trade and compliance records, adding: “This initiative will incorporate paperless trading and secure, digital exchange of trade …

Singapore is exploring wholesale central bank digital currency, or CBDC, said Sopnendu Mohanty, chief fintech officer at Singapore’s central bank and financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Speaking on the subject during an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Mohanty pointed out that in Singapore, there is not much demand for a retail CBDC given that payment system infrastructure in the country already allows fast and cheap payments among individuals. Instead, Singapore's central bank is focused on the development of a wholesale CBDC, which would be used to facilitate settlements of securities and payments among financial institutions. “I don’t think we …