Swiss crypto bank Sygnum secures in-principal approval in Singapore

Published at: March 8, 2022

Sygnum Singapore, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based cryptocurrency bank Sygnum, is expanding services after securing new regulatory approval from local authorities.

The company announced Tuesday that Sygnum Singapore received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to offer three additional regulated activities under capital markets services (CMS) license. The CMS license was initially granted in 2019, allowing Sygnum Singapore to conduct asset management activities.

The latest in-principle regulatory approval upgrades Sygnum Singapore to enable new tools like providing corporate finance advisory services, dealing with tokenized capital market products and digital assets, as well as offering custodial services for asset and security tokens.

With the additional regulated activities, Sygnum plans to offer its tokenization solution in Singapore with an initial focus on the tokenization of fund units. The firm specifically intends to start with its newly launched venture capital fund, the SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunity fund. Future projects also include providing corporate finance advice to Web3 platforms and digital creators, as well as work on digital collectibles, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and metaverse assets.

Sygnum is operating its own tokenization platform in Switzerland, allowing asset owners to issue tokens representing fractional ownership of various traditional securities, digital assets and NFTs. Some of Sygnum’s NFT-inspired tokenization works include a digitized Picasso painting and a CryptoPunk NFT.

Blue-chip #NFT #CryptoPunk 6808 has been tokenized by Sygnum Bank and will be available for #trade for Sygnum clients from January 2022 on our secondary market, SygnEX.Read more about the first #crypto punk with her own bank in our recent blog post https://t.co/xVrWUGpfXu pic.twitter.com/ThZrWp1Frj

— Sygnum Bank (@sygnumofficial) January 3, 2022

Related: Singaporean megabank DBS works on expanding Bitcoin trading to retail

The latest news comes shortly after Sygnum raised $90 million in a Series B funding round valuing the company at $800 million in early January 2022. The raise was led by Hong Kong alternative investing firm Sun Hung Kai & Co. and also included investors like Animoca Brands and Canada’s Meta Investments.

Tags
Related Posts
Huobi to halt services in Singapore after China exit
Huobi Global, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volumes, is winding down operations in Singapore shortly after exiting China. Huobi will shut down accounts of all Singapore-based users by the end of March next year, the company officially announced late Tuesday. All Huobi clients based in Singapore should close active positions and withdraw their digital assets before March 31, 2022, Huobi said. The exchange will also gradually halt access to Huobi services in Singapore before March, the announcement notes. The move is part of an effort to comply with relevant regulations by local financial authorities, the firm …
Bitcoin / Nov. 10, 2021
Binance Singapore withdraws crypto license application
Crypto exchange Binance has withdrawn its license application for pursuing digital payment token (DPT) services in Singapore. Starting today, Binance.sg has stopped onboarding new users and will not allow Singaporeans to deposit cryptocurrencies or fiat on the exchange. By Feb 13, 2022, Binance plans to “wind down” all services that relate to dealing with cryptocurrency tokens. However, the exchange announced to take no responsibility for the users’ assets after the self-determined deadline: “With immediate effect, users must start to make plans to withdraw their crypto and fiat from Binance.sg. Accounts of registered users who have not passed KYC will be …
Adoption / Dec. 13, 2021
SBI Holdings invests in Singapore crypto exchange Coinhako
Tokyo-based financial services giant SBI Holdings announced a joint investment in Coinhako, Singapore’s first licensed crypto exchange approved by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The Coinhako investment was made via a fund jointly set up by SBI and Swiss-based Sygnum Bank, namely, the SBI-Sygnum-Azimut Digital Asset Opportunity (DAO) Fund, according to the notice. Speaking to Cointelegraph, a MAS spokesperson highlighted the importance of seeking licensing approvals for crypto businesses: “MAS' approach to regulation under the Payment Services Act seeks to facilitate innovation while ensuring that adequate controls are in place to address key risks such as money laundering and …
Adoption / Dec. 15, 2021
Owner of Russian bank Tinkoff acquires Swiss digital asset firm
TCS Group, the owner of the major private Russian bank Tinkoff, is gaining exposure to digital assets. The firm has invested in Swiss digital asset service provider Aximetria, which is set to become the company’s first major crypto-related outfit, local news agency The Bell reported Wednesday. Citing data from Aximetria, the report suggests that TCS purchased 4,449 Aximetria shares worth 100 Swiss francs ($108) per share. Given that Aximetria’s total share capital was about 535,000 francs ($578,000), the publication reported TCS’ stake to be around 83.2%. A spokesperson for Tinkoff confirmed the news to Cointelegraph, stating that Aximetria will be …
Bitcoin / Jan. 12, 2022
Singapore MAS examines crypto firms ahead of new regulations: Report
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has started taking measures to prepare for new cryptocurrency regulations addressing the ongoing liquidity crisis and withdrawal issues. Singapore’s central bank has sent detailed questionnaires to some applicants and holders of the MAS’ Digital Payment Token licenses, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Sent over the last month, the questionnaires were reportedly seeking “highly granular information” about business activity and holdings by examined crypto firms. The checks were focused on firms’ financial stability and interconnection, with questions including top tokens owned, top lending and borrowing counterparties, the amount loaned and top tokens staked via decentralized finance …
Bitcoin / Aug. 26, 2022