The Singaporean prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong was recently subject to a scam that involuntarily had him involved. A member of the BitClout platform had reportedly used the name of the prime minister in order to pocket some easy money. The user sold fake tokens worth over $10,000. The official revealed that the scammer had made use of the information available on his Twitter account to sell tokens on BitClout. Loong went on to asset that he had nothing to do with BitClout and the entire activity was reportedly done without his permission.
While this account was soon taken down, Loong took to Facebook and asked Singaporeans to stay alert against any possible scams with regard to crypto platforms. The post addressed to his 1.6 million followers read,
“I have discovered that my Twitter profile (and others as well) has been used without my permission or knowledge on a blockchain platform that allows users to buy and speculate with its proprietary cryptocurrency. [….] I urge everyone to remain vigilant when dealing with cryptocurrency platforms.”
Singaporean Financial Regulator Steps In
The Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS] decided to address this. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the Chairman of the financial watchdog went on to reveal the risks involved in trading cryptocurrencies. Volatility has been a significant drawback of the crypto industry. Citing the same, Shanmugaratnam suggested that the value of crypto is not related to any economic fundamentals, which further makes them highly risky investment products. This would further not be very feasible for retail investors, he added.
Furthermore, the Chairman affirmed that MAS would make sure to alert Singaporeans about the perils of investing in the crypto industry, to avoid any possible losses. He added,
“The crypto assets space is constantly evolving. MAS has been closely monitoring developments and will continue to adapt its rules as needed to ensure that regulation remains effective and commensurate with the risks posed. Investors, on their part, should exercise extreme caution when trading cryptocurrencies.”