Circle and Paxos can now officially conduct transactions with their stablecoins, as well as other digital payment tokens in Singapore.
Circle and Paxos shared with their clients the jubilant news about obtaining licenses from the Monetary and Financial Authority of Singapore (MAS). Although the news is equally welcoming for both companies and their customers, their licenses differ:
- Circle has been issued a license by a payment institution. This license allows you to carry out cross-border payment services and issue cryptocurrency.
- In the case of Paxos, the license allows you to provide digital payment tokens in Singapore.
According to the CEO of Circle, Jeremy Adler, obtaining a license is a big step for the development of cryptography and the economy of Singapore.
“As one of the world’s leading financial hubs, Singapore is instrumental to Circle’s regional and global expansion plans in raising global economic prosperity. We are honored to receive the in-principle license, and we look forward to more collaborations with MAS to support the thriving crypto and blockchain ecosystem as well as the advancement of fintech innovation in Singapore.”
To date USDC, owned by Circle, is the second most popular stablecoin with a market capitalization, according to CoinMarketCap, of $43,757,601,744.
The co-founder and CEO of Paxos Asia, Rich Teo, in an address to users also noted the receipt of the license as a jubilant event. The representative of the company also noted that he considers regulation an important process during the development of the digital economy.
“We founded Paxos to make it safer and easier to move assets at any time, anywhere. From the start, we’ve been committed to innovating within regulatory frameworks. We’re honored to be one of the first US-based blockchain platforms to secure this important license from MAS. We believe blockchain and digital assets will revolutionize finance for everyone around the world, but development of this technology must have clear oversight and consumer protections. We’re excited to have MAS as our regulator. Paxos will safely accelerate consumer adoption of digital assets globally in partnership with the world’s biggest enterprises.”
According to CoinGeco, the Paxos stablecoin has a market capitalization of $858,955,633. And ranks sixth in terms of popularity among all stablecoins.
Singapore has been actively interacting with representatives of the crypto industry for the past few years and wants to establish itself as a country favourable for conducting crypto trading. However, the Singapore regulatory authorities impose very strict requirements on crypto companies. For example, according to an article by The Nikkei, in 2021, more than 100 companies out of 170 were unable to obtain licenses or withdrew their applications.
We are glad that these two companies were able to obtain licenses in Singapore and we hope that this will allow them to make their products even more attractive, as well as bringing a really positive impact on the Singapore economy. We will continue our observations and inform you about the main news.
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