Singapore central bank chief sees no place for private crypto in the monetary scene

Ravi Menon says the country is instead clearing a path for CBDCs and regulated stablecoins.

There will not be a place for private cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) in the monetary scene as many of them fail the “fundamental tests of financial services,” Monetary Authority of Singapore’s managing director Ravi Menon believes.

Speaking at a panel discussion on the Future of Monetary System on Nov. 28, 2023, Menon said that private cryptocurrencies “have miserably failed the test of money because they can’t keep value.”

“Nobody keeps their life savings in these things. People buy and sell these things to make a quick buck.”

Ravi Menon

While Menon didn’t specifically name which cryptocurrencies will be barred from the market, he suggested that a future monetary system will be based only on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenized bank liabilities and “well-regulated” stablecoins, without going into details.

Menon’s comments are in line with Singapore’s recent actions targeting stablecoins. In mid-November 2023, the Monetary Authority of Singapore unveiled a regulatory framework aimed at enhancing the stability of single-currency stablecoins.

That framework encompasses requirements concerning value stability, capital, redemption at par and disclosure of audit results. As per the framework, only stablecoin issuers who meet all the specified criteria can apply to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) for the recognition and designation of their stablecoins as “MAS-regulated stablecoins.”

Meanwhile, Singapore’s financial regulator is set to launch a live pilot of a CBDC for wholesale interbank settlements in 2024. This project is part of the Orchid Blueprint, a framework developed by the MAS for this purpose.