Singaporean PM Clarifies that Government Does Not Differentiate Between Fiat and Digital Currency Payments

The last couple of months have been filled with numerous statements from central banks and governments, meant to clarify their position on digital currencies.

Now, recent reports indicate that Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister, but also the head of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has mentioned that at this time, the Singaporean laws, do not differentiate between transactions made via fiat and digital currencies.

However, it is important to point out the fact that this statement was also made to clarify the fact that money laundering, terrorism financing and criminal financing are illegal, regardless of the currency being used.

According to Shanmugaratnam, “MAS’ AML/CFT requirements apply to all activities of financial institutions, whether conducted in fiat or virtual currencies (…) however, at some stage, fiat currency will have to be exchanged for virtual currency, or vice versa, at intermediaries that buy, sell or exchange virtual currency. MAS therefore intends to impose AML/CFT requirements on such intermediaries. MAS is currently conducting public consultation on a proposed Payment Services Bill that will empower us to do this.”

With this in mind, it is clear that the Monetary Authority of Singapore is now looking for possible AML, KYC and CFT requirements, for digital currency exchanges, which will also be overseen by the authority in the future. These efforts will not affect average cryptocurrency users, yet are meant to figure out who is using digital currencies for illegal activities. Therefore, it is expected that higher verification requirements will be imposed for users, yet general exchange activity will not be limited as long as verification documents are sent through.

Additionally, the MAS is also reportedly studying the latest developments in the digital currency ecosystem, alongside with the attitude being displayed by other countries.

Based on everything that has been outlined so far, most countries simply want to limit the potential for money laundering and illegal financing associated with digital currencies. Yet, oftentimes, this means tapping into the privacy of users. Opinions amongst the digital currency community remain divided, but it is nice to see that most governments are not trying to limit crypto activity in their regions of jurisdiction.