Lately, Singapore has been making quite some noise in the crypto-verse. While it has extended support for several projects by issuing licenses to operate in the region, it continues to safeguard its retail investors. Amidst all of this, the Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS] was exploring central bank digital currency or CBDC.
A recent report highlighted that MAS embarked on a new journey to explore the prospects of CBDC for cross-border transactions. The MAS went on to label this project Ubin+. To further boost this initiative, MAS collaborated with international partners.
The foreign exchange and liquidity management part of the initiative was called Project Mariana. As per MAS, this project involves Banque de France, the Swiss National Bank, and the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub’s Eurosystem, Switzerland, and Singapore Centres. This project would lay focus on the exchange and settlement of Swiss franc, Euro, and Singapore dollar wholesale CBDCs.
In addition to this, connectivity through other heterogeneous digital currency networks, and interoperability between DLT as well as non-DLT payment systems would be highlighted as part of Ubin+.
Speaking about the same, Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer at MAS stated,
“Interoperable wholesale digital currencies offer efficiency gains through a growing range of cross-border use cases. We will evaluate these new use cases simultaneously, to keep pace with technological advancements, focusing on use cases that create good value for the broadest range of stakeholders.”
Here’s how Singapore’s CBDC initiative is expected to boost the fintech sector
Singapore’s stance on CBDC and crypto has been rather confusing. After suggesting that there was no urgent case for retail CBDC, MAS went on to roll out four fast trials for the same.
Now, with its latest initiative Ubin+, MAS intends to lay focus on examining business models along with governance structures. Through this, the government hopes to minimize the settlement risks associated with existing cross-border payment systems.
Furthermore, technical standards as well as infrastructure that aids cross-border connectivity are expected to be put in place. Policy guidelines for the same will reportedly follow suit.