Crypto.com gets major payment institution licence from MAS
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With the licence, Crypto.com can continue to extend its digital payment token services to Singapore customers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SINGAPORE – Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com says it has been granted a major payment institution licence for digital payment token (DPT) services from the authorities here.
With the licence, it can continue to extend its DPT services to customers in Singapore, including e-money issuance, account issuance and cross-border and domestic money transfers, the exchange said in a release on Thursday.
This comes a year after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) handed out an in-principle approval to the firm.
The new development brings the number of crypto-related firms that can offer DPT services, either through the major payment institution licence or standard payment institution licence, to 13.
Crypto.com chief executive Kris Marszalek noted that MAS is recognised globally as a regulator that ensures responsible innovation of the digital asset sector and said the exchange looks forward to more collaboration.
Mr Ang Chin Tah, the company’s Singapore general manager, said the Republic continues to be a hub for blockchain and fintech innovation and that the “licence underscores our ongoing commitment to build with the Web3 community in Singapore”.
Crypto.com was founded in 2016 by Mr Bobby Bao, Mr Gary Or, Mr Marszalek and Mr Rafael Melo.
Following last year’s crypto crashes, including the fall of prominent exchange FTX,
In January, Crypto.com announced that it would reduce its global workforce by about 20 per cent
The layoffs at the firm would be the second round in about six months after it cut 260 jobs in July 2022 to weather the macroeconomic downturn amid rising interest rates.
