Following FTX’s fallout, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister said the nation had no aim of becoming a crypto hub but rather a responsible digital asset player.

FTX’s collapse in November remains a sour experience and a thing of concern even for Singaporean regulators. The Southeast Asian nation also indirectly took a hit from the losses incurred by Temasek, a Singaporean state-holding investment company that invested about $275 million invested in the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.

Temasek’s Exposure to FTX Was Disappointing

While speaking in the parliament recently, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, remarked that Temasek’s loss from FTX’s insolvency was disappointing. Although the investment company has already marked down its $275 million investment in FTX, Wong said the damage from the incident goes beyond just a financial loss.

According to the Deputy Prime Minister, Temasek’s exposure to FTX leaves also reputational damage for the state-backed investment company, “even more so because the loss arose from what turned out to be a very badly managed company, and from possible fraud and mishandling of customer funds.”

Singapore Had No Plans to Become a Crypto Hub

Wong said that Singapore had no plans to “hub crypto activities,” adding that “earlier optimism about blockchain technologies has been proven to be … not well-placed. I think there’s a more realistic sense of what these technologies can do.” Wong said Singapore is instead framing itself as a responsible and innovative player in the digital asset space.

On the contrary, the managing director of Singapore’s central bank Ravi Menon disclosed on November 3rd that Singapore wants to become a cryptocurrency hub, but only based on “experimenting with programmable money, applying digital assets for use cases or tokenising financial assets.”

However, Menon did say that the country will not hub cryptocurrency activities if they are about trading and speculating in cryptocurrencies.

~ By Ibiam Wayas ~