Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has warned on Jan 17 that service providers of cryptocurrency, should not promote their services to the general public in the country.<\/p>\n
This includes placing any form of advertisements or promotional materials in public areas, such as public transport and related venues, public websites, broadcast and print media, and the provision of physical automated teller machines (ATMs).<\/p>\n
Service providers have been restricted also not be engaging third parties, like social media influencers, for joint promotional campaigns to solicit new customers, said the central bank as it issued new guidelines to “discourage” cryptocurrency trading by the general public.<\/p>\n
However, the guidelines allows digital payment token service providers to only market or advertise on their own corporate websites, mobile apps or official social media accounts.<\/p>\n
\u201cMAS strongly encourages the development of blockchain technology and innovative application of crypto tokens in value-adding use cases. But the trading of cryptocurrencies is highly risky and not suitable for the general public,\u201d said the central bank\u2019s assistant managing director for policy, payments and financial crime Loo Siew Yee.<\/p>\n
DPT service providers should therefore not portray the trading of DPTs in a manner that trivialises the high risks of trading in DPTs, nor engage in marketing activities that target the general public.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, MAS has granted four firms the licence to provide digital payment token services out of a pool of about 180 applicants. They are local fintech firm Fomo Pay, Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve, local bank DBSs brokerage arm DBS Vickers, and Singapore-based cryptocurrency payments provider Triple A.<\/p>\n
Singapore’s regulations of digital payment token service providers are geared primarily towards protection against money laundering and terrorism financing.<\/p>\n
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