Nov 2021 Crypto Industry Updates

• secured a licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer digital payment token services in Singapore.
• licence will allow the company to provide end-to-end cryptocurrency payment services for businesses, including crypto payments gateway for e-commerce, crypto payouts and crypto remittances.

• Uniswap (most popular) has been used by 3 million unique addresses
• SushiSwap, Compound, Aave, Balancer, and MakerDAO have user bases at ~300K
• Total value locked in DeFi reached a high of US$276.92B on 9 Nov 2021

• Fintonia Group is a Singapore-based fund manager regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
• ‘Fintonia Bitcoin Physical Fund’ targets institutional investors seeking direct exposure to Bitcoin
• ‘Fintonia Secured Yield Fund’ provides investors with access to private loans secured by Bitcoin.

• Circle intends to establish regional headquarters in Singapore
• Jeremy Allaire (CEO) said his firm aims to be among the first stablecoin issuers licensed to operate in the city-state
• Circle is working in collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to “establish a lighthouse project around the adoption of USDC for major Singapore businesses.”

• it might sound like a lot, but the market cap is actually very small in comparison to the stock market.
• NYSE is around 26.4 trillion while NASDAQ is around 23 trillion. Source: Wikipedia

• “To comply with the laws of Singapore, we will have to include Singapore as a restricted jurisdiction. Regrettably, this means Huobi Global can no longer offer services to Singapore-based users.”

• all Singapore-based users’ accounts will be closed down on 31 March 2022.
• access may be restricted to these users even before the deadline.

• NFT platform OpenSea has today officially traded over $10 billion in volume.
• This is just 3 months after reaching the $1 billion mark

• enables TransCrypt users in Singapore to invest in digital tokens through their GrabPay wallet.

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore:

The Monetary Authority of Singapore “frowns on cryptocurrencies or tokens as an investment asset for retail investors,”

“The prices of crypto tokens are not anchored on any economic fundamentals, and are subject to sharp speculative swings.”

“Investors in these tokens are at risk of suffering significant losses.”

“Singapore is in no hurry to develop a central bank digital currency for retail use”

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore:

“With crypto-based activities, it is basically an investment in a prospective future, the shape of which is not clear at this point”

The city state is “interested in developing crypto technology, understanding blockchain, smart contracts and preparing ourselves for a Web 3.0 world”

“If and when a crypto economy takes off in a way, we want to be one of the leading players. It could help create jobs, create value-add, and I think more than the financial sector, the other sectors of the economy will potentially gain.”