Singapore regulator lauds crypto progress saying ‘future is on the right path’

Despite financial regulators typically taking a skeptical stance toward the budding cryptocurrency industry, not all of their views are uncompromising, and sometimes they even use words of praise.

One such example is the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), whose chief fintech officer Sopnendu Mohanty lauded the progress that the crypto industry and its leaders have achieved so far in a social media post on June 25.

Mohanty commented as he was leaving Zurich, where he attended the Point Zero Forum hosted by Elevandi, a company established in partnership between the Swiss Secretariat for International Finance and the MAS.

The official said that crypto industry leaders, such as Binance, are fully devoted to developing safe and sustainable innovations that solve real-world issues and uncover real-economy possibilities.

He explained:

“Leaders from the crypto/token space (Binance, Crypto.com, Ripple, and others) are fully committed to building a secure and sustainable innovation solving real problems, and identifying real-economy opportunities. It is heartening to see the clarity among CEOs on the need to create a responsible and compliant industry. The future is on the right path.”

Addressing bad actors in the crypto industry

That said, the MAS fintech chief threw in some words of caution, highlighting the possibility of failure due to the presence of dishonest and malicious actors within the space, which could lead to a “forced error.” He stated that:

“Web 3.0/Crypto is a very nascent industry, but the promises have run ahead of the technology maturity, the industry is filled with speculators and scammers, and magical soundbites with clickbait headlines are filling the space. So let’s not create a forced error and throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

Notably, Finbold reported several days earlier on Mohanty promising to be “brutal and unrelentingly hard” on bad behavior in the crypto industry, bringing into question the value of private crypto assets, as well as announcing a state-backed alternative in the next three years.