Singapore Regulator Sees Potential Blockchain For Cross-Border Payments
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and its Chief Fintech Officer named Sopnendu Mohanty have expressed interest towards blockchain technology. Apparently, they believe that the tech has the potential when it comes to cross-border payments, although it is not the same thing when it comes to retail bank digital currencies.
Blockchain and Cross-Border Payments
According to the official report, the agency is interested in leveraging the prowess of blockchain for cross-border payments. But as far as retail bank digital currencies are concerned, it “does not see much.” Mohanty expressed the agency’s views during the recently held Blockchain in Business event, which took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The aforementioned Chief Fintech Officer further said that back in 2016, policy makers did not necessarily have the concrete knowledge about blockchain and its purpose. That is why the central bank of Singapore decided to start experimenting in an attempt to better understand the technology.
Since then, the agency has been successful in learning a handful of uses related to blockchain. For instance, they now have an idea when it comes to deploying the tech in organizing payments in the banking system. The country’s central bank also found out that it can be utilize in settling payments against securities. More importantly, they now have a better grasp of the technology’s capabilities in performing cross-border payments.
Except Retail Bank Digital Currencies
Mohanty continued that, while the MSA came to acknowledge the efficiency gains blockchain could bring to the table, it does not see a very compelling future when talking about retail bank digital currencies. He even went to reference the central banks of the country and Canada, both of which have been successful in utilizing their own blockchain networks in order to send each other digital currency.
Referring to the development, the MSA officer said that the upcoming wave of central bank blockchain projects are expected to bring forth further progress. This can be achieved by simply bringing joint technology exploration alongside questions relating to the future of cross-border payments.
In January this year, the government agency warned the public against a supposed scam. The latter reportedly claims a crypto that was officially adopted by the Singapore government. Apart from this exploitation, the agency also informed the public in a statement about the many common problems involving investments digital currencies. cryptocurrencies or digital tokens. It even went to emphasized that this type of investments comes with high risk.