Singapore will “brutally and relentlessly harden” breaches in the cryptocurrency industry. This was stated by the manager of the fintech department. MAS Sopnendu Mohanty in an interview with the Financial Times.

The expert, who questioned the value of most cryptocurrencies, said that within three years, central banks will have an alternative in the form of digital currencies backed by governments.

“Many in the crypto industry see us as hostile. My answer: Friendly to what? To a real economy or an unreal economy?” he added.

According to him, MAS will not turn a blind eye to unscrupulous market participants. He stressed that if such players are found, the department’s response would be “brutal and relentlessly harsh.”

Mohanty noted that Singapore has a “painfully slow” and “extremely brutal due diligence process” for licensing crypto businesses.

According to the regulator, nearly 100 companies withdrew or rejected license applications in 2021.

The brokerage division of the largest bank in Singapore DBS Bank and Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve were approved for the study. In March 2022, the Authority also granted a license to provide services related to cryptocurrencies and other digital assets to Paxos.

However, MAS is not against digital assets as a whole. He said a consortium of companies led by Mojaloop and Temasek is working to introduce the digital currency into a cross-border payment system.

“We are working tirelessly on the infrastructure of the future economy that can rely on digital assets,” he said.

In May 2022, MAS launched the Guardian project. The regulator hopes to explore the possibilities of DeFi protocols within its framework, along with JPMorgan, Marketnote, and DBS.

In February, DBS Bank announced its intention to launch a digital asset trading platform focused on retail investors by the end of 2022.

Recall that in January 2022 MAS recommended that companies in the industry not advertise their services to the public to avoid the risk of speculation.

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