Singapore
Singapore saw 13x jump in crypto investments in 2021: KPMG
Singapore has seen a tenfold increase in crypto-related investments last year worth $1.48 billion, up from $110 million in 2020, according to KPMG’s Pulse of Fintech report. As per the study, the city-state has long been recognized as a center of cryptocurrency activity, with over $1.48 billion in investment completed last year alone. KPMG suggests that the increase is in part due to government efforts to stimulate the capital market, such as establishing a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) listing framework to position the country as a choice location where fast-growing firms and unicorns can go public. This year, regulators are ramping up their efforts to regulate speculative digital assets. Even as authorities impose even more regulation, KPMG forecasts that Singapor...
Singapore firm uses blockchain to battle counterfeit COVID-19 jabs
Singaporean healthcare services provider Zuellig Pharma is using a blockchain-based network to track COVID-19 vaccinations to prevent practitioners from administering expired vaccines. Zuellig Pharma says that its new “eZTracker” management system can help prevent improperly stored or counterfeit vaccines from being used by allowing its clients to instantly verify the provenance and authenticity of their vaccines via a mobile app. “Accidents involving expired or improperly stored vaccines can be avoided,” said Daniel Laverick, vice-president and head of digital and data solutions at Zuellig Pharma. eZTracker uses the SAP blockchain to capture, track and trace multiple data points to improve supply chain transparency. The eZTracker website explains how it works: “Simply scan the QR code on ...
Clampdown on crypto ads: A one-off or a new phase of global regulation?
Over the last week, regulators in three major jurisdictions across two continents introduced new rules governing cryptocurrency-related promotions and advertisements. Citing consumer risks associated with digital asset investments, authorities in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Spain tightened the requirements around crypto firms’ marketing messaging and customer recruitment practices. While some experts view this emerging trend as a sign of a new global phase of cryptocurrency regulation, questions about the efficiency and universal applicability of this approach persist. New measures In the United Kingdom, Her Majesty’s Treasury issued a report summarizing the results of a public consultation on crypto-asset promotions, published in July 2020, as well as the government’s further steps ...
Singapore’s MAS updates crypto advertisement regulations
The Singapore regulator has asked crypto service providers not to show advertisements trivialising the high risks associated with these trades Yesterday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore issued guidelines for crypto service providers, asking them to desist from airing advertisements to the general public in the country. A media release published alongside the guidelines confirmed that the regulator aims to inhibit speculation on various assets known to be volatile and thus unsuitable for investors within the general public. Onwards, crypto service providers in Singapore would no longer be allowed to advertise their products on retail-scale platforms. These include physical ATMs in public settings, physical ads, and online platforms. The updated guidelines also required that henceforth, ...
Singapore bars crypto service providers from advertising in public spaces
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued a new set of guidelines for digital payment token (DPT) providers, barring them from marketing their services in public areas. The guidelines, which were issued on Jan. 17, also warned the general public of the high risks associated with the crypto market in addition to prohibiting DPT companies from advertising their services in public places such as public transportation, public transportation venues, public websites, social media platforms and broadcast and print media. The new set of guidelines will be applicable for all the registered crypto services providers as well as those who are in the transitional period: “MAS stresses that DPT service providers should conduct themselves with the understanding that trading of DPTs is n...
100 digital payment token firms in Singapore fail to win licenses: Report
More than 100 out of 170 “digital payment token services” in Singapore have reportedly failed to obtain licenses from the local financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, or MAS. Amid apparently tough regulation, 103 companies related to the digital payment industry in Singapore found their regulatory exemptions removed, Japan’s financial publication The Nikkei reported Monday, citing data from the MAS. Sanjay Jain, CEO at Dubai-based crypto exchange Bitxmi, said that their Singaporean branch has failed to secure a license from the MAS. “We can’t operate in Singapore,” Jain noted. “We have an office there, but it’s just more or less — there’s one person for our accounting and legal issues.” Bitxmi exchange appears on the official list of entities...
Senegal readies for first LNG-powered electricity
Senegal is set to be partly powered by liquefied natural gas for the first time with the arrival at the capital, Dakar, on Wednesday of a floating gas facility from Singapore, the West African nation’s state power company, Senelec, said. The floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) is the result of a joint venture between Japanese shipping company Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd (MOL) and Turkey’s Karpowership, which supplies power from its fleet of ships mainly to eight African nations. Once up and running, the unit will supply LNG to a Karpowership vessel, which covers around 15% of Senegalese supply and has until now run on oil like most of the country’s power plants. “This project aims to provide reliable, affordable and cleaner power,” Senelec said. It did not say when the FSRU would be opera...
Minister: Why Twitter, other platforms must register to operate in Nigeria
The Federal Government says its directive that Over the Top (OTT) and social media platforms operating in the country must register and obtain license to operate is in conformity with global trend. The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said this on Friday when he featured on Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme “Good Morning Nigeria’’ monitored by newsmen. NAN reports that the Federal Government recently suspended operations of Twitter and directed that all OTT and social media platforms operating in the country must register with Corporate Affairs Commission. The Federal Government said they must also apply for licensing with the National Broadcasting Commission ( NBC). NAN reports that OTT media service is a media service offered directly to viewers via t...
Sri Lanka launches probe after burning ship pollutes beaches
Sri Lanka launched a criminal probe on Sunday into a huge container ship fire that has swamped the island nation’s coast with plastic pollution causing probably one of its worst marine disasters in history. Tonnes of microplastic granules have inundated the South Asian country’s famed beaches in Negombo, a popular tourist destination, forcing a fishing ban and prompting fears of ecological damage. The Singapore-registered MV X-Press Pearl has been smoldering on the horizon for 11 days after a blaze broke out as it was heading to Colombo from the Indian state of Gujarat. The 25-member crew, who have already been evacuated from the ship, will be questioned on Monday after a complaint was lodged by Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority, police said. Last week, authorities said t...
Southeast Asian leaders discuss Myanmar crisis with junta chief
Southeast Asian leaders began a crisis meeting on Myanmar on Saturday aiming to persuade Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the military takeover that sparked turmoil in his country, to forge a path to end the violence. The gathering of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta is the first coordinated international effort to ease the crisis in Myanmar, an impoverished country that neighbours China, India and Thailand. Myanmar is part of the 10-nation ASEAN. With participants attending in person despite the pandemic, Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said on Friday that the summit reflected the “deep concern about the situation in Myanmar and ASEAN’s determination to help Myanmar get out of this delicate situation”. It’s unusual for the leader o...
Traffic in Suez Canal resumes after stranded ship refloated
Shipping traffic through Egypt’s Suez Canal resumed on Monday after a giant container ship which had been blocking the busy waterway for almost a week was refloated, the canal authority said. The 400-metre (430-yard) long Ever Given became jammed diagonally across a southern section of the canal in high winds early last Tuesday, halting traffic on the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia. Live footage on a local television station showed the ship surrounded by tug boats moving slowly in the centre of the canal on Monday afternoon. The station, ExtraNews, said the ship was moving at a speed of 1.5 knots. “Admiral Osama Rabie, the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority (SCA), announces the resumption of maritime traffic in the Suez Canal after the Authority successfully rescues and ...
ASEAN changed Myanmar statement on release of political detainees – sources
A draft statement circulating the day before a Southeast Asian leaders’ summit on the Myanmar crisis included the release of political prisoners as one of its “consensus” points, said three sources familiar with the document. But in the final statement at the end of Saturday’s meeting, the language on freeing political prisoners had been unexpectedly watered down and did not contain a firm call for their release, two of the sources said. The absence of a strong position on this issue caused dismay among human rights activists and opponents of the coup, fuelling criticism by them that the meeting had achieved little in the way of reining in the country’s military leaders. read more Activist monitors say 3,389 people have been detained in a crackdown on dissent by the military since the Feb....