GFTN's Mohanty on Singapore FinTech Landscape

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00:00Lots of questions about Singapore as a crypto hub and lots of questions about the tightening rules

00:04on offshore crypto companies. Some say perhaps, you know what, Singapore is being brutal. This

00:09is crypto clampdown. Well, I would not put that way. I think we have been more tighter on the

00:16bad actors. Definitely consumer protection is a big issue for all of us. I think what Singapore

00:22is doing to me is a right balance because we are focused on the right direction of crypto world,

00:28which is stable coin tokenization. But this is definitely off the table. Is Singapore paying

00:35the price for that move? I mean, we've seen a lot of crypto companies moving to Hong Kong,

00:39to the UAE. Is Singapore pivoting and that's costing its position? I think if I look at data,

00:47it's not that bad. There are some flights out of Singapore. But look at the Singapore FinTech

00:53festival, we're here. So definitely there is an exit of actors who don't find it comfortable.

01:00But to me, on balance, great place to be Singapore. If you are in responsible innovation, be in

01:06Singapore. But it is a balancing act, right? Innovation as well as stability. How do you weigh

01:10that? End of the day, let's put all this out. End of the day, consumer has to be a use case.

01:16There has to be a use case for consumer to use crypto. And if we find the right use case,

01:21which we are doing, if we look at all our projects announced recently, there is a use case. There's

01:26a cross-border payment. There is a real use case for transaction. If that is driven by a crypto

01:31design, why not? Go for it. What is happening in Singapore and many other parts?

01:35Blockchain, front and center, everybody's excited about it. And Singapore is at the forefront. Yet,

01:40when you take a look at the initiatives in Singapore, they're still at the pilot stage. Why is

01:45that? Why is there no scale?

01:46It's a complex technology. It needs certain thought process. Project Guardian is working

01:51on. GL1, MAS, one initiative is working on making it easier. I think the rise of stablecoin will drive

01:58interoperability. It will force this design thinking of having all the different blockchain talking to

02:03each other. I don't emphasize a single blockchain standard. Multiple blockchain interoperable will

02:08be the way to go forward. Again, I go back to the point. Use case. What is the use case? Why do you need a

02:13blockchain-based financial transaction if there is no real value against what we have today?

02:18So, cross-border payment will drive that.

02:20When might that happen?

02:21It's already happening. Look at the data. Look at the cross-border transfers in the stablecoin

02:26space, in the emerging market, south to south. It is actually hitting a trillion dollar transactions.

02:31It is happening. So, I think there's an inflection point, a tipping point. You will see that growing.

02:35Can we get to the tipping point faster if you get regional coordination?

02:41I think, ideally, yes. But consumers' behavior is always dominant in that option. If you get

02:48consumers driving that outcome, you don't want to wait for a regional collaboration in this

02:53space. Of course, all is welcome.

02:55But where are the conversations right now? How is Singapore looking at it?

02:58Today, we are looking at all the projects. We're looking at all the buyers and sellers who

03:03are going to use this platform to transact. I was in Hong Kong. I was in China. I see all

03:07these things happening. There is a real, real moment of moving transaction to the blockchain

03:11using stablecoin.

03:12You talk about stablecoin, mainly USD-backed. Is there a case for an SGD-backed stablecoin?

03:18I thought somebody announced Coinbase, I guess, announced it recently.

03:21The question is demand, right?

03:22Yeah, demand. And I think most of the role Singapore's stablecoin will play as an exchange

03:29currency against other stablecoin. Same for Hong Kong, same for Singapore. More transaction,

03:36more trade flows will drive more adoption.

03:38Yeah, but the question is, when will we see that SGD-backed stablecoin that will create an

03:43impact? The top 20 stablecoins are USD-backed.

03:45It is still the demand because accessing US dollar, US asset is the stablecoin's biggest demand.

03:50It will take time, but I don't see that long. Maybe a couple of years, you will see a strong

03:54other currency picking up. Japanese yen, we saw FSA announcing through one of the pilot

04:00projects of three major Japanese banks issuing yen stablecoin. This is a very good, very good

04:05progress. You must give a credit to all the regulators, really helping to build the right

04:09framework.

04:10I want to touch on cryptocurrencies and I guess a policy out of the US. It does seem like under

04:15the Trump administration, the US is embracing crypto in a huge way. Some like the EU have come

04:21want to say, they're concerned about financial stability. Is there a reason to be concerned

04:25about that?

04:25No, because what the US is doing, it's an interesting name. First they had a Genius Act,

04:30then they had a Clarity Act, which I think they're clarifying a lot of things. So there

04:36could be a bit of a time to digest, but what the US has done, they definitely laid a framework

04:41for all regulators around the world to find a common ground. I think that's in some sense

04:46a positive. In some sense, it will cause a reaction. There will be a need to digest all

04:50these changes. But I think at the end of the day, there will be a common ground for all

04:54of us.

04:54Where might the concern be? Where might the risks be? Could the EU be right at some point?

05:00Sovereign risk. Sovereign risk. That's all of the concern. And then, of course, there's

05:05a currency risk there. Again, we've got to be very careful about what is the real value

05:11of this asset. What backs this asset? The fundamental question is always out there.

05:16And Singapore's take on it? Is Singapore concerned about financial stability on the back of that?

05:19Of course. Of course. That's always a concern. Because you've got to ensure these assets

05:23are real. It cannot be some program asset nobody knows.

05:26So you're announcing a fund today.

05:28Yes.

05:29Tell us more about it.

05:29I'm getting excited. This is a fund to be announced in partners with SBI Holdings.

05:34We'll also do it with Axion. The fund size may not be that big, but it'll get bigger

05:38as we go forward.

05:39What is the size?

05:40With SBI Holdings, we have 200 million US, but other one will be similar one, hopefully.

05:46But it'll grow very fast. We are a strategic investor. We'll do much better.

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