[NEWS] Monetary Authority of Singapore teams up with FSA, Swiss and UK regulators for tokenization of real-world assets

On the 30th, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that it has launched a project to tokenize real assets in partnership with 15 financial institutions, including the Japanese Financial Services Agency, the Swiss Financial Market Authority (FINMA), and the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The plan is to proceed with pilot tests of tokenization in bonds, foreign exchange, asset management products, and more.

The Japanese, Swiss, and UK authorities will form the policymaker group for Project Guardian, a public-private partnership initiative on digital assets launched by the MAS last year.

The MAS stated that the reason for launching the policymaker group is that as pilot operations expand and become more sophisticated, there is a need for closer cross-border cooperation between policymakers and regulators.

MAS has listed the following as the objectives of the policymaker group:

1. Advance discussions on the legal, policy and accounting treatment of digital assets
2. Identify potential risks and policy and legal gaps related to tokenized solutions
3. Set common national standards for the design of digital asset networks and consider market best practices across jurisdictions
4. Promote a high level of interoperability to support cross-border digital asset development
5. Test digital asset pilots through regulatory sandboxes
6. Facilitate knowledge sharing between regulators and the industry

Leon Sing Chiong, Deputy Managing Director (Market Development) of MAS, said the partnership "reflects policymakers' desire to deepen their understanding of the opportunities and risks arising from digital asset innovation," and "through the partnership, we hope to advance the development of common standards and regulatory frameworks that appropriately support cross-border interoperability and the sustainable growth of the digital asset ecosystem."

On June 26, the Financial Services Agency announced that it would participate in Project Guardian as an observer.

Countries and companies are working on the digitization of assets, but it is necessary to manage the associated risks to financial stability and fairness. In addition, the possibility of utilizing digital technologies such as asset tokenization needs to be verified through pilot tests. Currently, pilot tests are being conducted in the fields of bonds, foreign exchange trading, asset management, etc.

At the time of the announcement, Mamoru Yanase, counselor of the Financial Services Agency's Policy Management Bureau, said that blockchain technology has the potential to become a source of innovation in the medium to long term, including Web 3.0, and said, "We hope to increase our knowledge in this field through collaboration with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and financial institutions."

Reference:Announcement
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