Leading Singaporean DBS Bank has announced its intention to launch a retail crypto trading desk by the end of the year after opening an institutional digital asset trading desk back in 2021. Speaking in relation to the platform releasing its fourth-quarter results on Monday, CEO Piyush Gupta accepted that while there is still more work to be done, the bank still expects that it will be operational by the end of 2022.
Furthermore, the chief exec said that the bank would work its first half of this year on improving the user interface of the proposed digital assets trading desk.
Not only that, there would be relevant facilities by which users can place orders on the cryptocurrency over the phone, by contacting a bank representative. As per Gupta, the idea is to make it available online and as a self-service option.
However, additional information concerning the crypto trading platform, such as whether one would be able to move digital assets acquired on it to other platforms or crypto wallets, has not yet been specified by DBS.
DBS is on the move
The bank only recently has increased the trading hours of the desk to be 24/7 to match the pace of crypto. Before that, trading was done on bankers’ hours within Singapore’s time zone. That said, a licensing framework for retail exchanges is in place with the Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS].
Looks like the increased level of interest in the Metaverse has finally caught up with the bank. A senior investment strategist at DBS Bank Daryl Ho said in late November that industry leaders who are already embracing the digitalization trends of digital assets and engaging in the movement will enjoy the advantages of the Metaverse.
Last year DBS issued a $15 million bond as a Security Token Offering [STO]. STOs are regulated token offerings, often seen as ‘legitimate’ ICOs. But the offering did not garner much attention in Asia.
Some experts sought to provide an explanation for that. According to them the nature of STOs needing to stay within the confines of a ‘securities clearinghouse’ is contradictory to the basic idea of crypto and thus won’t attract much interest from investors.