President Of Singapore Criticizes Crypto As Pure Investment Activity

Key Points:

• Singapore’s new president, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, has a history of being laissez-faire towards cryptocurrencies.
• Shanmugaratnam has acknowledged the risks associated with crypto and suggested authorities provide “ultra clarity” on these risks.
• As a former finance minister and central bank chairman, Shanmugaratnam’s experience may influence policy related to the future of finance, including cryptocurrencies.

According to CoinDesk, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Singapore’s new president, known for his laissez-faire stance on crypto, might shape policy related to the future of finance.

Singapore’s new president, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, has been elected with 70.4% of the vote, replacing Halimah Yacob, the country’s first female head of state. Shanmugaratnam is a former finance minister and central bank chairman, and is known for his early laissez-faire stance on cryptocurrencies, calling them “purely speculative” and “slightly crazy.”

While his role as president is largely ceremonial, his experience might mean he has some influence in shaping policy related to the future of finance, including cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and more.

Singapore has gone from being an early adopter of crypto to a jurisdiction trying to find the right regulatory balance after the collapse of homegrown crypto darlings Terraform Labs and Three Arrows Capital while Shanmugaratnam was chairman of Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

In 2018, Shanmugaratnam wrote that cryptocurrency and related trading activity did not pose any threat to Singapore’s finance system, and there was no need to prohibit it. However, he has also acknowledged that there are risks associated with crypto.

He has suggested that authorities provide “ultra clarity” on the risks associated with crypto because to “start getting into a game of regulating products, ostrich eggs or crypto or anything else” would be a “never-ending game.”

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