- Coinbase has received preliminary approval from Singapore’s monetary authority.
- Coinbase will now be able to offer “regulated digital payment token products and services in the island state.”
Singapore’s central bank, The Monetary Authority of Singapore, has granted in-principle approval to Coinbase, permitting the firm to offer its services in Singapore.
Coinbase is expanding into Singapore.
In a recent press release, crypto exchange Coinbase announced that the firm has received a regulatory nod from the Singaporean authorities. The firm has acquired an in-principle approval (IPA) from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), which will further allow the firm to expand its base and offer a host of crypto services to its Singaporean clients and investors.
Through this license, Coinbase is set to offer regulated Digital Payment Token Products and Services in Singapore. According to Financial Times, Sopnendu Mohanty, the top fintech officer at MAS, had previously claimed that the regulatory body has enacted a “painfully lengthy and rigid licencing process for institutions to prohibit bad behaviour rampant in the crypto sector.”
“We are excited to announce that we have received our In-Principle Approval (IPA) as a Major Payments Institution licence holder from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). This licence will allow us to offer regulated Digital Payment Token products and services in the island state. ” The statement reads,
The press statement further adds that Coinbase’s CEO and co-founder, Brian Armstrong, will also be attending a stage event in Singapore alongside MAS’s Chief Fintech Officer, Sopnendu Mohanty.
“We are also excited to confirm that our CEO and co-founder, Brian Armstrong, will be taking the stage at the Singapore Fintech Festival on November 4th, in a fireside chat with Sopnendu Mohanty, the Chief Fintech Officer at MAS.”
Coinbase has quietly been expanding its base in the island city. The company had previously launched a technical hub in the region, as well as increased efforts to hire skilled Web3 personnel to drive crypto innovation in the city. In addition, Coinbase Ventures has also invested in over 15 Singapore Web3 startups to boost crypto adoption in the city-state.
“Last year, we announced Singapore as a tech hub for Coinbase; we have since continued to hire and train product managers and engineers on Web3 technologies. The team leading our venture arm, Coinbase Ventures, has invested in over fifteen Singapore-based Web3 startups in the past three years. They have also established a team in the island city to drive investment activity in the Asia-Pacific region. We look forward to continuing our work with local Web3 community groups such as ACCESS, Singapore Fintech Association, and advisory.sg in favour of a thriving local ecosystem. ” The statement reads,
Singapore has emerged as a global finance hub that houses a large number of corporate banks, fintech institutions, asset managers, hedge funds, and insurance firms. The growing pool of fintech institutions in the city-state has also expressed a strong desire to explore the budding crypto domain and invest some of its stake in the sector of digital assets.
“As the top financial center in Asia and the third in the world, after New York and London, Singapore is a regional, or in some cases, a global, hub for a large number of banks, asset managers, hedge funds, insurance companies, commodity trading firms, corporates, and HNWIs, all of whom have been showing an increasing interest to invest directly in digital assets. Today’s announcement underlines our commitment to Singapore as a regional hub that allows us to unlock new capabilities for Singapore-based institutional and corporate clients in the future. The statement later adds,
Before Coinbase, the Monetary Authority of Singapore had granted an in-principle licence approval to crypto.com, permitting the firm to offer crypto-related services in Singapore.