KrASIA: Scores of businesses fail to win licenses from city-state’s financial regulator

KrASIA: Scores of businesses fail to win licenses from city-state’s financial regulator

Crypto entrepreneurs find Singapore is not so hospitable after all

Cryptocurrency entrepreneurs lured to Singapore by its apparent openness to the burgeoning industry are discovering just how difficult it is to legally operate in the city-state.

More than 100 of the around 170 businesses that applied for licenses to offer “digital payment token services” have now been turned down or withdrawn their applications, according to the latest figures from regulators.

And scores more face an uncertain future, operating under exemptions but amid a darkening mood over the approval process.

In early September, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) ordered Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, to stop providing services to residents in the city-state, and last week Binance’s Singapore-only affiliate announced it also was shutting down its trading platform for the city-state. Dozens are confronting a similar fate.

Dubai-based crypto exchange Bitxmi is one of 103 companies that appear on the latest MAS list of entities whose exemptions allowing them to operate have been removed. Having set up in Singapore in late 2018, it was unsuccessful in securing a license, chief executive officer Sanjay Jain told Nikkei Asia.

“We can’t operate in Singapore,” he said. “We have an office there, but it’s just more or less—there’s one person for our accounting and legal issues.”

Jain declined to speak about why his outfit did not manage to secure a license from regulators. “That, you need to ask them,” he said.

The introduction of the licensing regime in January was cast as the next step in building a thriving crypto sector and set up a contrast with Singapore’s rival Asian financial hub, Hong Kong, which had taken a more skeptical approach to crypto businesses.

Graph by Nikkei Asia.

A spokesperson for MAS told Nikkei that it is supportive of innovation in the use of blockchain technology, which underpins cryptocurrencies, while also recognizing the risks.

“Cryptocurrencies could be abused for money laundering, terrorism financing, or proliferation financing due to the speed and cross-border nature of the transactions,” the spokesperson said. “Digital payment token service providers in Singapore … have to comply with requirements to mitigate such risks, including the need to carry out proper customer due diligence, conduct regular account reviews, and monitor and report suspicious transactions.”

Rahul Advani, Asia-Pacific policy director at blockchain company Ripple, said Singapore’s stance on digital assets has resulted in the city-state being one of the most advanced and mature nations in the field, helping foster development and innovation in the emerging industry.

“It’s very clear where digital assets and related activities lie on the risk spectrum, so you mitigate the potential of developing and investing in technology that is unregulated,” he told Nikkei.

Crypto players that raced to set up in Singapore run the spectrum from exchange platforms for trading bitcoin, Ethereum, and other tokens, through investment managers and financial advisers looking after digital asset portfolios for the wealthy, to business-to-business outfits helping corporate clients accept cryptocurrency payments.

Outfits that were operating in the country prior to the introduction of the licensing regime were granted exemptions until the outcome of their license application is known. Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told parliament in July that there were 90 companies operating under such exemptions.

The MAS website showed that the group had shrunk to about 70 as of December 14.

So far, only three players—DBS Vickers Securities, a unit of Singapore and Southeast Asia’s largest bank, DBS Group Holdings; digital payments startup FOMO Pay; and Australia’s Independent Reserve, which offers crypto exchange services—have been listed on the MAS website as licensed entities.

Two others—Coinhako, which operates a crypto exchange platform, and TripleA, a payments company—have put out announcements themselves saying they have acquired the necessary approvals to operate.

Anndy Lian, chairman of Netherlands-registered crypto trading platform BigONE Exchange, told Nikkei that his outfit does not intend to apply for a license in Singapore presently.

“The whole process of selecting who to give the license to is not very transparent,” he said. “It gives the impression that the government is favoring big players and foreign exchanges.”

MAS has not publicly disclosed why specific crypto players were unable to obtain a permit.

But Nikkei understands that some of them did not have the capacity or infrastructure to meet the high compliance standards set out by the financial regulator to deter money laundering and financing of terrorism.

“Cryptocurrencies are currently being used to channel the earnings of everything from ransomware proceeds, the sale of narcotics to some of the most horrific crimes, including human trafficking,” said Rachel Woolley, head of financial crime at client management solutions provider Fenergo.

“Regulators have now entered this space in an effort to protect the financial services industry from illicit activity in much the same way that activity involving fiat currency must be monitored.”

MAS pointed to comments from its managing director, Ravi Menon, who has said that Singapore does not need 160 players in the crypto sector and it may be better to have “half of them” operating at very high standards.

TripleA told Nikkei that in securing its permit, it had to ensure that its operating procedures for risk assessment, customer due diligence, record-keeping, suspicious transaction reporting, auditing, and training were up to snuff.

But its CEO, Eric Barbier, said TripleA gained little insight into what exactly made the difference between success and failure.

“MAS never talks. MAS asks questions and questions and questions,” he said. “You can ask questions but they will not answer, and most regulators are like this.”

Barbier reckoned that being a business serving other businesses may have helped secure a license. “Especially for consumer-to-consumer, like consumer exchanges and so on, the risk of money laundering is very high, so they need to demonstrate to MAS that they are able to mitigate all those risks accordingly,” he said.

Peiying Chua, financial regulation partner for Singapore at the law firm Linklaters, said it is unlikely MAS is specifically favoring big, incumbent financial players: “Likely reasons for unsuccessful applicants may include a lack of track record or key personnel without adequate experience, a lack of a sustainable business model or serious adverse records relating to directors and key individuals.”

“The regulatory approach by MAS may to some degree stifle innovation in smaller entrepreneurs and sift out smaller virtual asset service providers that may not be able to comply with the regulations,” said Quek Li Fei, partner at law firm CNPLaw.

But he added it “provides a more forward-thinking approach toward encouraging legitimate innovation and entrepreneurship in cryptocurrency and digital asset businesses, with a reasonable level of protection to investors.”

This article first appeared on Nikkei Asia. It’s republished here as part of 36Kr’s ongoing partnership with Nikkei.

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

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Anndy Lian: “Opening Banking is good. Defi is better. It can fill up the existing financial gaps.”

Anndy Lian: “Opening Banking is good. Defi is better. It can fill up the existing financial gaps.”

The modern-day, tech-savvy consumers’ demand for a more avant-garde service, gave rise to what’s now called the open banking revolution. And, it is changing the way transactional data is shared, used and stored outside Financial Institutions.

This paradigm shift is actively transforming the payments landscape, and with cryptocurrencies squeezing their way toward the innovation space, it looks like it’s set to play a significant role. Crypto Curry Club spoke to BigONE Exchange Chairman, Anndy Lian to discuss the potentially life-changing opportunities that Open Banking brings and how crypto can be leveraged in this new scene.

What is Opening Banking?

Open banking is a banking practice that allows third-party financial service providers to access consumer banking and financial data via application programming interfaces (APIs).

Why do credit bureaus use open banking?

Credit bureaus need to access and process customer information in order to accurately determine creditworthiness. Open banking reduces administrative costs by eliminating manual document collection. Furthermore, open banking allows credit bureaus to analyse consumption patterns, such as overspending, to provide better credit scores (Julio, 2021). Additionally, open banking prevents fraud through authentication and verification of the validity of data (Julio, 2021).

In the video, Anndy and Erica discussed the following topics:

[00:02:01] Give an overview of what open banking is. How is this bringing some disruption and some benefits to the traditional roles of things like lending and credit?

[00:04:51] Do you see any other benefits to the area of credit decision?

[00:08:05] How specifically do you see open banking benefiting people who are either looking to get in crypto or who are already in the crypto space?

[00:12:25] Have you seen a large take up for that sort of access of on ramping via open banking on your exchange?

[00:15:58] What are some of the security benefits that open banking brings?

[00:17:51] What do you see is next for open banking in terms of helping the credit, lending space, and the crypto exchanges picking up this technology of using open banking?

“Open banking prevents fraud through authentication and verification of the validity of data. For financial service providers, open banking will allow financial service providers to significantly innovate on their product offerings to businesses. For businesses, opening banking will mean more effective and efficient financial tools in their business. For customers, it will mean better ways to spend, borrow, and invest.

Opening Banking is good. Defi is better. It can fill up the existing financial gaps.”

 

About Crypto Curry Club:

The Crypto Curry Club connects like-minded individuals to come together and affect real change that innovates our future while driving businesses forward.

 

About Anndy Lian:

Anndy Lian is an all-rounded business strategist in Asia. He has provided advisory across a variety of industries for local, international, public listed companies and governments. He is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur, book author, investor, board member and keynote speaker. Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. He is also the Chairman, Asia for BigONE Exchange.

 

About Erica Stanford:

Erica is the Founder of Crypto Curry Club. She is also the author of Crypto Wars: Faked Deaths, Missing Billions and Industry Disruption published by Kogan Page.

The full video can be found at:

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

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Anndy Lian Commented”DeFi has a role in the future financial markets” at Asian Digital Week ” Fintech & Digital Banking Innovation Conference”

Anndy Lian Commented”DeFi has a role in the future financial markets” at Asian Digital Week ” Fintech & Digital Banking Innovation Conference”

Asian Digital Week ” Fintech & Digital Banking Innovation Conference” brought experts into the event to discuss on “Digital Banking & Platforms”. This is also the second session for the event. The experts talked about the adoption of blockchain for governments, large enterprises & SMEs, decentralised finance, trends ahead on fintech, neo-banks, responsible innovation and evolving regulatory frameworks.

This panel discussion is moderated by Kaiser Naseem – International Development Banker, Tech Platforms, United Arab Emirates and panellists: Anndy Lian – Advisory Board Member, Hyundai DAC, Singapore; Kaiser Naseem – International Development Banker, Tech Platforms, United Arab Emirates; Amit Agrawal – Engagement Director, KPMG, Singapore and Xue Tan – Business Relations Manager Team Lead, GLEIF, Germany.

“Everybody is talking about cryptocurrencies. I won’t be surprised that in the next few years down the line, I don’t need to use physical cash and everything become digital. This will change the entire landscape.” Amit Agrawal – Engagement Director, KPMG, Singapore commented.

“DeFi lending for example. The transactions will take much less time, your collateral can be any digital asset and therefore your physical assets can be safe. There are also no credit checks are necessary, henceforth anybody can apply for a loan.” said Anndy Lian – Advisory Board Member, Hyundai DAC, Singapore

Anndy ended his speech with the question “Is the future of finance decentralised?” He believes that decentralised finance has a role in the future financial markets.

Asian Digital Week is a virtual event, dedicated to the digital transformation of modern society. It includes 7 conferences, giving the viewers useful information about the essential trends related to digital technology. Experts and business leaders from Asia and around the world will come to share personal and professional knowledge, best-case practices and showcase project experiences. The participant will have the chance to learn cutting edge information and view the latest in financial technology.

 

Anndy Lian is an early blockchain adopter and experienced serial entrepreneur who is known for his work in the government sector. He is a best selling book author- “NFT: From Zero to Hero” and “Blockchain Revolution 2030”.

Currently, he is appointed as the Chief Digital Advisor at Mongolia Productivity Organization, championing national digitization. Prior to his current appointments, he was the Chairman of BigONE Exchange, a global top 30 ranked crypto spot exchange and was also the Advisory Board Member for Hyundai DAC, the blockchain arm of South Korea’s largest car manufacturer Hyundai Motor Group. Lian played a pivotal role as the Blockchain Advisor for Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an intergovernmental organization committed to improving productivity in the Asia-Pacific region.

An avid supporter of incubating start-ups, Anndy has also been a private investor for the past eight years. With a growth investment mindset, Anndy strategically demonstrates this in the companies he chooses to be involved with. He believes that what he is doing through blockchain technology currently will revolutionise and redefine traditional businesses. He also believes that the blockchain industry has to be “redecentralised”.

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