The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has been issuing strong warnings against retail investments in cryptocurrencies and has been taking increasingly stronger measures to restrict retail access to cryptocurrencies. Talking about retail investors trading crypto, Ravi Menon, managing director of MAS, said, “they seem to be irrationally oblivious about the risks of cryptocurrency trading.”
While delivering an opening address on a public platform, Menon said that MAS was once “making pro-crypto decisions” but was now being “overly cautious and losing its appeal as a global crypto hub.” Yet Menon pointed out that others see MAS as having struck the right balance, as “the crypto winter is proving MAS policies to be right.”
“Adding frictions” on retail access to cryptocurrencies was an area the MAS was contemplating, said Menon. “These may include customer suitability tests and restricting the use of leverage and credit facilities for cryptocurrency trading. Yes to digital asset innovation, no to cryptocurrency speculation.”
Menon Says There Is Confusion About Cryptocurrencies, Blockchain, and Digital Assets
Menon explained that the public and media attention has tended to focus on cryptocurrencies but cryptocurrencies are just one part of the entire digital asset ecosystem. “To understand the issues more sharply and what the benefits and risks are, we need to be clear about what the different components of this ecosystem are,” he said.
Menon admitted that the inherent complexity of this ecosystem (confusion about cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and digital assets) has made it difficult even for MAS to get its messages across.
