Singapore is developing a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) that would enable settlements of securities and payments among financial institutions, according to Sopnendu Mohanty, the chief fintech officer of the city-state’s finance watchdog.
In an interview with Cointelegraph, Mohanty said there is limited demand for a retail CBDC because the country’s payment system infrastructure already enables rapid, low-cost transactions among individuals, so the focus has been on a wholesale CBDC, and the project is moving forward quickly.
“I don’t think we need to do any more experiments on wholesale CBDCs,” said Mohanty. “Now, we should start thinking about going into production.”
Mohanty said a strict but clear regulatory framework combined with a propensity for innovation make the island a prime spot for Southeast Asian cryptocurrency enterprises, providing they stick to the rules.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore official said the former British colony has a regulatory framework in place to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.
Singapore’s central bank still believes that while some crypto enterprises raise concerns, the technology itself is not problematic.
“Allowing crypto to be an experimental construct in Singapore is what we are looking at,” he said.