Singapore MAS Announces Collaboration With Japan, UK On Crypto Policies, Accounting Decisions

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country's central bank and financial regulatory authority, announced this week that it was working with nations like Japan, Switzerland and the U.K. to "foster responsible digital asset innovation."

Aside from being one of the first nations to agree to a stablecoin crypto regulation, Singapore, in its bid to become a global crypto hub, revealed it was working with other countries to promote digital asset legal, policies and accounting decisions, and "to advance digital asset pilots in fixed income, foreign exchange and asset management products."

The island country also shared details about Project Guardian, which saw the MAS partner with numerous financial institutions to launch pilots on "asset tokenization in fixed income, foreign exchange, and asset management products."

According to the financial regulator, "These pilots have demonstrated the potential to reap significant market and transaction efficiencies from the use of tokenization. As the pilots grow in scale and sophistication, there is a need for closer cross-border collaboration among policymakers and regulators. MAS has therefore established a Project Guardian policymaker group comprising FSA, FCA and FINMA."

The initiative is centered on six core elements, which include "advance discussions on legal, policy and accounting treatment of digital assets," "identify potential risks and possible gaps in existing policies and legislation relevant to tokenized solutions" and "explore the development of common standards for the design of digital asset networks and market best practices across various jurisdictions," among others.

"MAS' partnership with FSA, FCA and FINMA shows a strong desire among policymakers to deepen our understanding of the opportunities and risks arising from digital asset innovation. Through this partnership, we hope to promote the development of common standards and regulatory frameworks that can better support cross-border interoperability, as well as sustainable growth of the digital asset ecosystem," MAS Deputy Managing Director (Markets and Development) Leong Sing Chiong, said.

As the interests of crypto businesses wane in the U.S. because of its regulatory enforcement and vague digital asset regulations, countries in other parts of the world, particularly in Asia, rise up to improve their crypto regulations to attract businesses.

Singapore has been working hard to improve and advance its digital asset regulations over the past months.

Last month, the island country completed a joint test of cross-border trading and settlement of the CBDC with the Bank for International Settlements, as well as the central banks of Switzerland and France, under the initiative "Project Mariana" developed by the Banque de France, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Swiss National Bank.