Singapore has no strong case to prohibit cryptocurrency trading says Minister

Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s deputy prime minister said the government sees no need to prohibit cryptocurrency trading.

Shanmugaratnam said in a written response to MPs Tuesday that cryptocurrency and related trading activity currently do not pose any threat to Singapore’s finance system.

He stated that MAS has been “closely studying these developments and the potential risks they pose. As of now, there is no strong case to ban cryptocurrency trading here.”

The comments came as a direct response to lawmakers Saktiandi Supaat, Lim Biow Chuan and Cheng Li Hui, who questioned the PM over possibility of banning cryptocurrency in Singapore, according to an order paper prior to a parliament meeting on Feb. 5.

The deputy PM wrote: “For now, the nature and scale of cryptocurrency trading in Singapore does not pose risks to the safety and integrity of our financial system. Its use in making payments is small, and trading volumes of cryptocurrencies in Singapore are also not high – they are much smaller than in countries like the U.S., Japan and South Korea.”