Major Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for its Major Payment Institution License. The license will let the platform provide a range of payment services in the country. On Wednesday, June 22, Crypto.com announced the approval from MAS, which is necessary for offering the Digital Payment Token services within the framework of Singapore’s Payment Services Act. In the announcement, Kris Marszalek, co-founder and CEO of Crypto.com, confirmed the company’s commitment to collaborating with the MAS: “The Monetary Authority of Singapore sets a high regulatory bar that cultivates innovation while protecting consumers, and …

The past week in the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem saw many new developments, including the rebirth of the Terra 2.0 blockchain. Meanwhile, Binance’s incubation platform Binance Labs launched a $500 million fund to support and promote Web3 adoption. Singapore’s central bank partnered with JP Morgan to explore DeFi applications in wholesale funding markets by establishing tokenized bonds. KuCoin launched its very decentralized wallet with DeFi and nonfungible token support. The top-100 DeFi tokens showed signs of a breakout from a month-long bearish trend, with most of the tokens showing overall gains in the past seven days. Maker founder proposes MetaDAOs …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched Project Guardian, a blockchain-based digital assets trial that will use tokenization. The project will include regulated financial institutions serving as "trust anchors," with a pilot involving JP Morgan, DBS Bank and Marketnode, the SGX joint venture for bonds. The Project Guardian initiative, which was announced during the Asia Tech x Singapore Summit on Tuesday, was spearheaded by Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies Heng Swee Keat. It will see MAS explore decentralized finance (DeFi) applications in wholesale funding markets by establishing a liquidity pool of tokenized bonds and deposits …

ADDX, a blockchain and smart contract-based digital securities platform from Singapore raised $58 million from mainstream financial institutions to fund its goal of reducing minimum private investment sizes via tokenization and fractionalization. The Monetary Authority of Singapore regulates ADDX as a digital securities exchange that aims to democratize private markets. The Pre-Series B funding round saw participation from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), UOB, Nasdaq-listed Hamilton Lane and Thailand’s Krungsri Bank, which has brought total funds raised by ADDX to around $120 million. As explained in the announcement, ADDX uses blockchain technology and smart contracts to tokenize and fractionalize …

Colin Miles, the newly-appointed CEO of TZ APAC, expects blockchain and Web3 curricula to start becoming an integral part of secondary and tertiary education within the next three to five years. “I would think it’s that classic medium-term, three-to-five timeline,” said Miles. Miles spoke to Cointelegraph after the announcement of TZ APAC’s partnership deal with the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) School of Computing on Tuesday, which will see the Tezos agency supporting the development of the university’s new center for nurturing computing excellence. Miles said: “If you have a dedicated center in NUS, which runs blockchain courses every day …

As Singapore continues to play an active role in boosting crypto adoption across the Asia-Pacific region, the country’s first licensed crypto exchange Independent Reserve conducted a retail-focused survey to better understand the underlying potential of the regulated market. Independent Reserve’s survey — conducted across all age groups and genders of the Singapore population — revealed a strong affinity for various financial opportunities brought forward by decentralized finance (DeFi) and other investment opportunities. As explained by Raks Sondhi, managing director of Independent Reserve Singapore, the country’s rapid crypto adoption is driven by high level of trust and confidence in the future …

Nium, a cross-border payments firm based in Singapore, has announced the launch of a new API-based solution that will allow businesses to start accepting cryptocurrency payments. As per the announcement, the newly launched product is called Crypto Accept. It allows online sellers to accept Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) before expanding to other digital assets in 2023. Payments are sent to internet merchants' accounts in U.S. dollars or other fiat currencies the next business day, allowing vendors to expand their market and enhance their online payment experiences while avoiding price volatility. Nium partnered with crypto payments processor BitPay to launch …

Global banking giant HSBC Holdings has rolled out its metaverse investment product for wealthy clients in Singapore and Hong Kong, according to multiple media reports. Called Metaverse Discretionary Strategy portfolio, the new product is managed by HSBC’s asset management arm, HSBC Asset Management. The fund aims to provide high net worth professional investors and accredited investor clients with exposure to new investment opportunities in the metaverse industry. According to a Wednesday report by Reuters, HSBC’s metaverse fund will focus on investment within five major segments in the metaverse ecosystem, including infrastructure, computing, virtualization, experience and interface. “We see many exciting …

The Singaporean government has approved legislation that will give the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, additional power to respond to crypto firms doing business outside the country. Records from the Parliament of Singapore show the government passed the Financial Services and Markets Bill on Tuesday following a second reading on April 4. According to the MAS, the legislation will require virtual asset service providers doing business outside Singapore to be licensed and subject to anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism requirements, or AML and CFT, respectively. “Digital token service providers could easily structure their businesses to evade …

Citing compliance with local jurisdictions, crypto exchange Coinbase announced to soon collect additional information from users based in Canada, Singapore and Japan. Effective from April 1, Coinbase users from Canada, Singapore and Japan will be required to provide additional information while sending cryptocurrencies to a different (non-Coinbase) platform. However, while Singaporean and Japanese investors will be required to share additional information about the recipient for every single off-platform transaction, Canadians sending less than $801 (1,000 CAD) will be exempted from this requirement. As shown in the above screenshot, Canadian users will need to share the full name and residential address …

Amid the United States and the European Union taking measures to prevent Russia from using cryptocurrencies for potential evasion of sanctions, some countries in Asia have also been moving to respond to the situation. Japan to fine crypto exchanges for violating sanctions Japan became the latest country in Asia to call cryptocurrency firms to comply with sanctions against Russia, requesting them on Monday to not process crypto transactions involving sanctioned individuals or entities in Russia and Belarus. The Japanese Financial Services Agency (FSA) and the Ministry of Finance issued a joint statement on sanctions against Russia, stressing that crypto is …

The Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS, has granted stablecoin issuer Paxos regulatory approval to offer crypto services to local companies. In a Thursday announcement, Paxos said it had received a license from Singapore’s financial regulator allowing the firm to provide blockchain and crypto services under the country’s Payment Services Act. The stablecoin issuer said the regulatory approval would help support its partners in expanding services into Asia. “We’re excited to have MAS as our regulator, and with their oversight, we’ll be able to safely accelerate consumer adoption of digital assets globally by powering regulated solutions for the world’s biggest …