Singapore sees promise in a crypto economy

Singapore

SINGAPORE sees "significant economic possibilities" from a crypto or tokenised economy that can make cross-border payments cheaper and can transform the way hard physical assets are traded - the way first paved by modern securitisation, said Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) managing director Ravi Menon.

This key part of digital infrastructure comes amid broader liberalisation in the financial sector. MAS has also discussed with Indonesia and the Philippines to link up their real-time payment systems, in the same way it would with Malaysia, India and Thailand, said Menon. The aim is to make such micropayments via each country's equivalent PayNow, more efficient and cheaper.