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MoneySense launches Campaign to raise public awareness on the perils Of Crypto Scams and online trading

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There’s no rose without a thorn, similarly, despite being immensely valuable, the crypto industry deals with scams and hacks. Singaporeans have been urged to stay safe against any possible scam with regard to crypto through a campaign.

Earlier this month, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS], the prominent financial regulator in the region, warned about the risks of trading cryptocurrencies. While the Chairman affirmed that MAS was keeping a close watch on the industry, he also urged Singaporeans to stay alert.

More recently, it was revealed that a campaign had been launched by the Singaporean national financial education programme, MoneySense to raise awareness with regard to the use of crypto.

Singaporeans To Use MoneySense’s Campaign To Stay Alert

The Straits Times reported that MoneySense had rolled out a campaign in light of the ongoing surge in the popularity of crypto. This initiative reportedly encourages users to steer clear of any potential scams pertaining to crypto and online trading. Users of digital assets are reminded to “always ask, check and confirm the legitimacy of the entity marketing the product before making any investment.”

The MoneySense web page talks about ways to identify investment scams, including red flags, fictitious track records, and many more.

MAS’s Shanmugaratnam had previously pointed out the volatile nature of crypto. He had further stated,

“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.”

Furthermore, Lee Hsien Loong, the Singaporean Prime Minister had to encounter a scam that involved the sale of fake tokens, at the beginning of the month. Perpetrators gathered information from the Prime Minister’s social media accounts, prompting them to open a BitClout account without the Prime Minister’s permission. This caused quite a stir in Singapore at the time. Hence the latest campaign would be beneficial for the region.

“Singaporeans Remain Vigilant While Dealing With Crypto,” Alerts PM Lee Hsien Loong

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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

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.”

Gemini Dives Into Singapore Shores By Adding Support To SGD

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The Winklevoss twins have been rolling out several developments with regard to its cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. The platform has managed to stay relevant despite the great loss the COVID-19 pandemic had cast upon the entire world. Gemini even went on to reveal that it considered going public like another popular crypto exchange, Coinbase.

Gemini To Venture Into Asia

Several platforms figured that Asia was a promising market for cryptocurrencies. Gemini went all out with regard to its new venture. In a recent press release, Gemini revealed that it was moving into Singapore with an array of features. The platform started off by onboarding the Singapore Dollar [SGD] for both the desktop as well as the mobile application.

With this option, users would be able to purchase crypto with SGD through a debit card or even FAST transfers. Users from Singapore could even employ MyInfo through SingPass to auto-fill registration forms of Gemini accounts.

Singapore has been a hopeful market for many. OKCoin, a crypto exchange from San Fransisco recently revealed that it was diving into Singapore with a new office. Speaking about the potentials of Singapore, Gemini’s CEO and co-founder, Tyler Winklevoss said,

“Singapore is a financial epicenter in the heart of Asia and is a fast-growing market for cryptocurrency. Singapore is one of our biggest markets and supporting SGD is another exciting milestone on our mission to empower the individual through crypto.”

Additionally, the crypto exchange even set up an Asia Pacific office in Singapore. The office is reportedly hiring for several roles. The Head of Asia, Jeremy Ng suggested that the team was focused on localizing the exchange’s products to comply with both institutional as well as retail users. Ng added,

“We will continue to build out our presence and are aggressively hiring top calibre talent to join our mission to empower the individual through crypto.”

Singapore’s Largest Bank To Roll Out Digital Asset Exchange

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Digital Assets are the new everything! Singapore seems to be the latest to jump onto the bandwagon as countries and financial institutions have been steering towards setting up digital asset friendly platforms. The largest bank in the Asian country recently revealed its interest in the crypto-verse. While both tradings of crypto and crypto exchanges are legal in Singapore, DBS revealed that it had joined hands with Singapore Exchange [SGX] to roll out a digital asset exchange.

Singapore Dwells Deep Into Crypto

The largest bank in the Asian country, DBS revealed that it would launch an exchange that focuses on digital assets. The bank sought support from the Singapore Exchange that would acquire a 10% stake in the yet to be launched digital exchange. The digital exchange would be called DBS Digital Exchange and will be made available by next week.

While the exchange has listed an array of assets that would be paired against yet again several fiat currencies, the DBS Digital Exchange will be limited to institutional as well as accredited investors only. Speaking about the same the Group CEO at DBS, Piyush Gupta pointed out that the digitalization of assets paves the way for an array of opportunities to reshape the markets. He further added,

“For Singapore to become even more competitive as a global financial hub, we have to prepare ourselves to welcome the mainstream adoption of digital assets and currency trading. DBS is committed to accelerating the development of a fully integrated ecosystem to facilitate this. We believe that this is the first of its kind integrated offering, which is differentiated in many ways.”

The DBS Digital Exchange would support crypto assets including, Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], Bitcoin Cash [BCH] along with fiat currencies, Singapore Dollar [SGD], US Dollar [USD], Hong Kong Dollar [HKD], and the Japanese Yen [JPY]. Along with this, the exchange will reportedly present its users with Security Token Offerings along with Digital Custody Services.

The announcement also revealed that the platform had garnered approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS]. Elaborating on the 10% stake of the Singapore Stock Exchange (SGX), the CEO of SGX, Loh Boon Chye said that with its latest move, both the platforms hope to “bring trust and efficiency in price discovery to the global digital assets space.”

Singapore Steers Towards Digitalization; Tenancy Deals Will Now Use Digital Signatures

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Limiting the human touch, the deadly COVID-19 virus urged the need for digitalization. While the pandemic caused destruction to life as well as the economy, governments and several sectors realized the importance of going digital. The real estate industry seems to be the latest jump onto the digitalization bandwagon.

Digitalization Of Real Estate In Singapore

Prominent Singapore-based real estate platform, ERA Realty Network decided to take things up a notch with regard to digitalization. The platform revealed that it would employ Sign with the SingPass service and support digital signatures for tenancy agreements.

Sign can be accessed by the community via the Singpass application. The application supports an array of platforms including DocuSign, iText, Netrust, Adobe, OneSpan, Dedoco, Tessaract.io, and Kofax that aids digital signatures. Incorporating Sign had made ERA the first private platform to do so. This addition paves the way to limiting physical contact between the owners and the buyers of the property.

Jack Chua, the Chief Executive at ERA Singapore stated,

“ERA is in full support of the Government’s initiative to build a trusted digital ecosystem as we move towards an increasingly efficient and convenient Smart Nation.”

The SingPass was formulated by the Government Technology Agency [GoveTech] to limit the need for signing documents physically. Sign with Singpass would allow users to sign several documents with a simple click. Users would be required to click on a document that needs to be signed after which a QR code would appear. The SingPass application on the users’ phone would now come in handy as a function that initiates the signing request by scanning the QR code would be found in it.

The Government would get involved here as the encrypted signature of the signee is validated against the database of the Government post-signing. The digital signing process will be completed after the users’ face or fingerprint is scanned. The platform assured that confidentiality would be upheld as the transfer of these documents cannot be transferred to the GovTech.

Additionally, the Minister for National Development, Desmond Lee also commented on the latest development and said,

“To survive and do well in a digital era, (property agencies) will need to ensure that both your real estate professionals and your technical teams, who build and support your digital platforms, receive the necessary training.”

Furthermore, ERA has several other plans like the introduction of a WhatsApp-based chatbot that would aid in delivering information pertaining to projects.

Singapore Ups its Blockchain Game with Singapore Life Philippines – Galileo Platforms Partnership

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Blockchain technology has come a long way since its inception with the concept of having being adopted by multiple industries of late. from being shunned because of its association with cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology has made a name for itself for being fast and secure.

The blockchain industry got one more win recently when major insurance player Singapore Life Phillippines announced that they would be adopting the blockchain solution provided by Galileo Platforms. The tie-up will also involve G-Cash, a native e-wallet provider that will work towards providing low-cost life insurance on the blockchain. 

The Philippines was seen as a lucrative market because of the growing number of users on the smart banking systems. Reports have also shown that the gross written premium in the country represents less than 1 percent of per capita gross domestic product. The focus on developing countries has increased recently and that is mostly because these regions make up for more than 50 percent of global premium growth.

Speaking about the partnership, Singlife Philippines President and CEO said:

“Galileo technology is built for digital and for scale, offering easy low-cost solutions. That’s perfect for Singlife and perfect for under-insured markets such as this one.”

Insurance pathways require a more concrete foundation that would stop any form of fraudulent activity. This is the area where blockchain technology shines, as the single truth concept of the system will hinder any changes to core data. It is a known fact that many insurers are still struggling to become digital as they are constrained by legal processes and systems. Galileo Platforms has assured its users that the low-cost, high-efficiency technology enables the whole life cycle of insurance transactions.

The company has said that they will first start with life insurance after which there are plans to diversify into medical and general insurance. Singapore has witnessed a surge of new companies in the cryptocurrency industry and it is all due to the laws and regulations. The Monetary Authority of Singapore has made it clear that it will follow all rules and procedures before letting a new crypto company establish itself.

Trading For Crypto Newbies Made Easier With Singapore-Based Trading Bot

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The crypto industry is quite difficult to understand until one gets a hang of it. Buying and selling of crypto assets is a task for beginners. Paying heed to these problems, a Singapore-based crypto investment, and blockchain advisory firm, Novum Group rolled out a solution to address the same.

Trading Bot To Help Beginners Understand Crypto

A person unaware of trading or the operations of the crypto-verse can sometimes end up doing the unintended. Therefore, acting as a savior to every newbie of the crypto industry, the Novum Group released the trading bot, CryptoHero. The latest venture of the Novum Group would be free and readily available to those who intend to enter the crypto universe.

The Co-founder of CryptoHero, Irwin Chee elaborated on the functions of the trading bot in a recent blog post. Chee said,

“The 24/7 opening hours of the crypto market has necessitated the use of trading automation for investors that are involved in trading cryptocurrencies. Understanding this, we created CryptoHero to help investors automate trades right from their phone. Run it, manage it, anytime, anywhere.”

Knowing when to buy or sell assets profitably is definitely a hard nut to crack. While the experienced or intermediate level members of the industry are familiar with indicators, the newbies would take a while to understand the operations of these indicators. CrytpoHero would aid the latter as it would incorporate indicators like Relative Strength Index or Bollinger Band while trading.

The trading bot would allow users to access all the indicators along with three bots through its free account option. However, the premium plan would start from $9.99 every month. While the Andriod version of the trading bot will enter the market in 2021, CryptoHero is readily available on the web as well as iOS.

The Chairman of Novum Group, Christopher Low also commented on the latest venture and said,

“We are excited with the launch of CryptoHero. CryptoHero will give many of us who are time-starved to trade the cryptomarkets via automated trading bots.”

The trading bot will reportedly allow users to select from trading pairs, different technical indicators, risk management as well as direction. The bot would permit users to do to the aforementioned on exchanges like Binance, OKEx, or Huobi. Users will be able to learn from their previous performance to better themselves in future trading activities.

OKCoin Ventures Into Asia With Its New Office In Singapore

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Asia has been a promising market for technological innovations in almost every other field. As the globe is veering towards digitalization the demand and adoption of cryptocurrencies have recorded a surge. With the intention of expanding and adhering to the needs of the market, several crypto platforms have been venturing into Asia. San Francisco’s OKCoin is the latest cryptocurrency to jump the bandwagon.

OKCoin Rolls Out Asian-Centric Office

In a recent blog post, prominent cryptocurrency exchange, OKCoin revealed that it was venturing into the Asian markets with its latest office in Singapore. Earlier this year, the exchange sought approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore [MAS] and finally received a thumbs up from the financial regulator. Keeping in mind its interest in the Asian market, OKCoin added support for the Singapore Dollar [SGD] in March 2020.

With its latest venture, the crypto exchange intends to represent itself as a “South East Asia hub” and specifically render to the needs of users from Asia and Oceania. The blog post further revealed that OKCoin’s Singapore exchange would allow users to trade the Singapore Dollar against prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin [BTC] and Ethereum[ETH]. However, the United States Dollar [USD] can be traded against, BTC, ETH, Bitcoin Cash [BCH] Litecoin [LTC], and Ethereum Classic [ETC].

Elaborating on OKCoin’s Singapore takeover, Khairi Azmi, OKCoin Singapore GM revealed that the platform was steering towards making partnerships to pave way for new payment channels to accelerate the “burgeoning industry”. Azmi added,

“It’s an exciting time to lead OKCoin’s rapid expansion into Singapore, with the current macro economic environment setting the stage for the next phase of growth in cryptocurrencies.”

The financial watchdogs of Singapore have garnered an array of appreciation for its interest in regulating the crypto-verse. Lauding the Singapore government and its regulators, Anson Zeall, an OKCoin partner said,

“The Singapore government has taken a practical and proactive approach to regulating cryptoassets by finding the right balance of managing risk without discouraging innovation.The long term benefits for crypto firms is the exciting participation of the greater ecosystem in this country, such as RegTech companies, banks, auditors, compliance and legal firms. ”

It seems like Singapore is heading towards becoming a global leader in the financial technology sector.

Singapore Sees Serious Blockchain Technology Adoption as Banks Look to Create New Areas of Growth

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The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way the financial world works with focus shifts into other branches. From considering commodities trade as the be-all and end-all of banking, institutions were now planning to set up digital trade registries in forward-thinking economies like Singapore.

Since the pandemic started, banks have lost billions of dollars because of defaulters and a general lack of transactions. The setting up of a digital trade finance registry is expected to reduce trade fraud and provide some much-needed transparency to the system.

Singapore has always been considered as a market that is accepting of new trends and the latest trend is just another example of that. Native Singapore banks such as Hin Leong Trading Ltd were also massively affected after reports revealed that the bank was down in the trenches after the pandemic surged. On Tuesday, the DBS Group and Standard Chartered revealed that they were leading a group of 12 other banks in Singapore to establish a central trade transaction database.

Economic experts stated that taking the digital trade registry route was a smart way of cutting losses and taking precautionary steps for the future. Ho Hern Shin, an assistant managing director at the Monetary Authority of Singapore  also said:

“A digital trade registry strengthens trade financing banks’ ability to avoid duplicate financing and facilitates more sustained credit flow in trade financing. This mitigates against duplicate financing from different bank lenders for the same trade inventory, leading to greater trust and confidence among banks and traders alike.”

Sources close to the developments informed users that the registry has been built on a blockchain network supported by dltledgers, a popular technology provider. Both Standard Chartered and DBS worked on the entire proof of concept in association with banks such as ABN AMRO, Deutsche Bank, OCBC, and Rabobank. Some analysts added that the registry, once complete, should be assessed by government authorities so that it complies with all statutory laws.

Bitcoin Trader Robbed of More Than $350,000 Gets Justice as Main Accused Gets Charged in Singapore

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Ever since the inception of the cryptocurrency industry, it has witnessed several cases of scams and fraudulent activities. Sometimes these events tend to go overboard in the physical world as well.

This week, a court in Singapore adjudged that the last member of a three-member gang who stole thousands of dollars from a Bitcoin trader was guilty. Jaromel Gee Ming Li was sentenced by the court to three years in jail as well as twelve strokes of the cane as part of his punishment. 

Ming Li and his cohort included Mohd Abdul Rahman Mohamad and Syed Mokhtar Syed Yusope and were involved in attacking a Bitcoin trader back in 2018. Abdul Rahman is yet to go on trial for his crimes while Syed Yusope has already pleaded guilty to robbery. According to sources, Abdul Rahman and Ming Li would act as third parties in a bid to lure cryptocurrency investors into their trap.

In these instances, buyers would approach them with a lot of money looking to make a massive profit by trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. During the event in question, the three parties decided not to transfer the cryptocurrencies even if the buyer provides them with the capital. The victim, Pang Joon Hau had traveled from Malaysia to Singapore to conduct cryptocurrency trades where he fell prey to Ming Li’s scam.

Mr. Joon Hau had a total of $365,000 with him that he planned to convert to cryptocurrencies. When Ming Li found out about this plan, he quickly informed both Abdul Rahman and Mokhtar who arrived at the hotel at night to execute the plan. During a meeting between Mr. Pang and a Bitcoin broker, Mokhtar interfered and attacked Mr. Pang for his money. Both Abdul and Mokhtar made off with the money but their happiness was shortlived as Abdul was arrested just two days later.

Kin of the accused was also brought in to establish proof with Abdul Rahman’s ex-wife also pleading guilty for receiving contraband from him. This turned out to be the final nail in the coffin as it started the snowball effect of arrests. Abdul’s ex-wife was also sentenced to 9 weeks in jail starting from mid-October. The final conclusion of the case will only be revealed at the end of the last arrest with many members of the cryptocurrency community wondering how harsh the penalty would be.