Singapore is resolute in trying to address the issue of money laundering involving crypto assets. In the latest report, Singapore will soon take new steps in the protection of crypto assets from money laundering involving the financing of criminal operations, terrorism as well as arms expansion.
Singapore's monetary authority, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), today announced that it will introduce Cosmic, a data and information sharing platform that is motivated to prevent money laundering.
This Cosmic Platform will allow financial institutions to share information about risky users or transactions. MAS revealed that the platform has partnered with six major banks in Singapore namely DBS Group, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, United Overseas Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Citibank, and HSBC.
For the time being, the six banks will be the sole users of the platform until its wider adoption in the first half of 2023 and the introduction of laws governing the confidentiality of bank customers.
In a statement, the central bank said such an exchange of information would enable financial institutions to uncover and uncover illegal networks and help protect Singapore’s financial hub.
On the other hand, Singapore banks are committed to catalyzing digital banking on the world stage and becoming the preferred alternative for their customers. In the latest announcement, MAS has issued crypto licenses to DBS Bank brokers and the Independent Reserve exchange platform. The license allows the two companies to offer crypto brokerage services to genuine clients.
The Independent Reserve exchange platform is the first platform from Singapore to offer its services to retail and institutional investors in Singapore.
In August DBS and the Independent Reserve obtained agreement in principle from MAS to offer crypto services.
The two new crypto licensing will open up Singapore’s crypto market to new players paving the way for healthy competition and also making Singapore a growing crypto hub.
