Singapore Cryptocurrency

Singapore Coin Scam and More

Singapore is an amazing country on many fronts. It is one of the most forward-thinking places on earth from a commercial point of view. In this article, we look at the overall landscape for Blockchain and Cryptocurrency in the tiny nation-state and the latest Singapore Coin scam.

Is Singapore Crypto friendly?

Singapore is, without doubt, a major crypto hub. At the end of 2018, both South Korea’s largest crypto exchange, Upbit, and major Chinese player Binance announced their expansion into the local market.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the end of 2018 broadened the existing regulatory framework to bring certain cryptocurrencies under its jurisdiction. The central bank introduced a mandatory licensing regime for payment service providers, which are now required to apply for one of three licenses based on the
nature and scale of their crypto activities.

The Singaporean Ministry of Law has said this week that businesses should exercise caution and do their due diligence before accepting cryptocurrencies. This statement was in part made regarding a recent promotion by a local business. A large jewellery retailer, SK Jewellery, with a  chain of jewellery stores in the city-state, has partnered with Singapore-based point-of-sale systems startup Bizkey Network to accept Bitcoin and other digital assets as payment. The company is offering discounts of 10% to 20% on their products when purchasing with cryptocurrency. In a two-hour flash sale, $30000 worth of transactions in crypto took place.

Concern over the use of precious metals and digital assets to aid money laundering is under the spotlight, with a bill being proposed to the government at present. It will be very interesting to see the Singaporean stance on Crypto as 2019 progresses. Singapore does not classify Crypto as legal tender but retailers are able to accept them.

Singapore’s stance on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain

Singapore does not consider Bitcoin a currency but rather a good and applies services tax on it use. The entire global cryptocurrency space is still waiting on regulatory clarity with regards to ICO classification as securities or not. In the United States, the Howie test is applied to ascertain if something is a security or not.

Singapore has been passing laws and proposing bills recently and this week an ICO fell foul of new regulations and had their STO, security token offering halted. The ICO in question advertised the STO offering on Linkedin and in doing so breached the law with regards to advertising an STO without a registered prospectus with the Singaporean Monetary authority. This gives good insight into how Singapore is moving forward in that space and to me, it seems Singapore is taking a very open stance to this new industry. Having a prospectus isn’t exactly a major barrier to entry and you would think any serious venture would have one before taking an offering to market.

Blockchain in Singapore

In Singapore, there is a very clear belief in Blockchain technology. The government is very supportive of Blockchain tech and has funded many projects. News out this week in that space is lead by Standard Chartered banks Singapore unit pulling off its first cross-border trade finance transaction on a blockchain-based platform. This is significant as there has been a general malaise over the real application of Blockchain tech and its real-world application outside of Bitcoin.

Standard Chartered worked with startup Distributed Ledger Technologies platform to complete an agri-business supply chain deal in one day. This was a major achievement eclipsing the normal five to seven days for this transaction.

The head of trade for the Singapore transaction banking business, Ujjwal Jain said in a statement that the use of blockchain-based platforms “enables the bank to support our clients’ entire supply chain and provide seamless trade financing within a day”.

“This helps free up cash flow and working capital, which our clients and their supply chain can reinvest into their business,” he added.

“The transparency of the whole process also helps build trust and loyalty across the supply chain to promote more cost-efficient products and services. This is a win-win for all parties.”

Having lived in Singapore for many years and still being a regular visitor there for the many Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency and Blockchain events that take place, I see Singapore as arguably the most important place outside of the US to watch for developments in Crypto and Blockchain. So far the Island nation State is taking a very measured approach.

Singapore coin scam

I have been sent an amazing offer to buy ‘Singapore Coin‘ by many people in the last couple of days. I find this particularly hilarious as it came via a Facebook sponsored ad. It is hilarious for a number of reasons. The fact that the Hardforking website has been restricted from advertising on Facebook as it does not meet Facebooks cryptocurrency guidelines is right at the top of the list.

How on earth has the Singapore Coin sponsored story managed to get past facebooks bots? I can assure you Facebook is insanely strict on anything to do with cryptocurrency. We are a Bitcoin site and Venezuela aside I’m not aware of any other countries that have made Bitcoin illegal, just the country Facebook. Coming in a close second is the fact that surely the entire planet is now aware of cryptocurrency scams and can spot them yet people are still trying this nonsense.

2019 is hopefully the year of a clear out of scammy projects, better clarity over-regulation and maybe even Facebook allowing us to tell people about Bitcoin. Singapore’s stance on Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies and blockchain will play a major role in global acceptance and adoption, watch this space.

Any bets on Facebook launching a coin this year? Leave your comments below.