Singapore provisionally approves Crypto.com, Genesis and Sparrow for payments
Quick Take
- Singapore’s financial regulators gave in-principle approval to three additional cryptocurrency firms to offer payment services in the country.
- This comes just weeks after the regulator revealed plans to explore use cases for DeFi on public blockchains.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) gave in-principle approval to Crypto.com, Genesis and Sparrow to offer crypto payment services in the country.
Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Heng Swee Keat, said on Wednesday that three additional digital payment token service license applicants had received in-principle approval — bringing the total to 14.
“There are many other good use cases within the broader digital asset ecosystem. We should therefore take the same approach as earlier tech waves,” he said. Before going on to say “Singapore remains keen to work with blockchain and digital asset players.”
The Major Payment Institution License enables companies to offer a range of payment services, including offering customers in Singapore cryptocurrency services or digital payment token (DPT) services.
Kris Marszalek, CEO and co-founder of Crypto.com, noted the high standards set by MAS and said they help to foster innovation. “We look forward to continuing to collaborate with the MAS and deepening our roots in Singapore – a flourishing market for fintech innovation, renowned for its well-regulated business environment,” he concluded.
Today’s announcement comes just three weeks after MAS announced plans to research use cases for decentralized finance (DeFi) on public blockchains. The plans are known as Project Guardian and include partners such as JPMorgan, Marketnote and DBS.
Sparrow and Genesis did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Block.
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