Singapore’s central bank says illegal crypto operations will be hunted down

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said illegal crypto-related businesses are operating in the city state and it is working with the police to identify and prosecute them.

See related article: Singapore’s MAS says needs to do better job explaining crypto policy

Fast facts

• In a reply to a Parliamentary question, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, senior minister and minister in charge of MAS, said that the central bank has been conducting surveillance to identify unlicensed firms that illegally provide digital payment token (DPT) services in Singapore. 

• The central bank would refer matters to the police for investigation when it suspects a license applicant is involved in illicit activities, besides rejecting the application, Tharman said.

• MAS is working with the police to combat cryptocurrency scams and together have issued advisories to alert consumers to guard against fraudulent websites soliciting cryptocurrency investments, Tharman said.

• The island nation’s central bank also cautioned that cryptocurrency transactions involving privacy coins and privacy wallets in Singapore are subject to misuse by criminals as they are designed to hide the identity of persons behind the transactions.

• Additionally, this year crypto-related companies with operations in Singapore have either filed for bankruptcy or gone into liquidation, such as the Three Arrows Capital hedge fund, the US$40 billion collapse of the Terra-LUNA stablecoin project, while Nasdaq-listed Eqonex Ltd. shut its crypto exchange. 

See related article: Singapore’s central bank says cryptocurrencies have ‘no fundamental value’

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