For the second year in a row, Singapore is one of the top technology hubs in the world, according to a KPMG survey conducted and published in July of 2021. This jewel of the South China Sea has long been known as a thriving Silicon Island, with top tech talent and quality business leaders, a bountiful low-tax and pro-business environment, modern and sophisticated infrastructure, the blessings of good governance, robust regulation and excellent investment opportunities.
With great emphasis placed upon technology, business and strong education through the famed city-state’s excellent universities, Singapore is seen as a true gateway to Asia, with the safest streets in the region. Singapore’s unparalleled reputation has made it the location for the global and regional headquarters for a range of global companies.
With 1400 fintech startups registered in the country, Singapore is the world’s fourth-largest fintech hub, according to Global Fintech Rankings. The pandemic has had a positive impact on the development of Singapore’s fintech sector, preparing the country for the digital economy of the future. In December 2020, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the awarding of four digital bank licences, including Grab-Singtel and Sea for two full digital banks, and two digital wholesale banks. None will have a physical presence but all four will operate online.
Cryptocurrency Exchanges and Trading in Singapore
In Singapore, cryptocurrency exchanges and trading are legal, with a much friendlier position on the issue elsewhere in Asia. There are even cryptocurrency ATMs in Singapore where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies directly and instantly with cash - just insert Singaporean dollars and withdraw crypto straight to a secure digital wallet.
Then there’s one of Singapore’s leading cryptocurrency CFD trading exchange platforms, Bitop, which announced last month the launch of its native BTOP token. BTOP has come to revolutionize and resolve common issues in the big data industry by allowing customers to seamlessly trade, conduct transactions of any size, and have a trading, secure deposits and withdrawal environment that is free and open.
Fintech as a Growing Industry in Singapore
With fintech companies in Singapore raising over $1bn in the first half of 2021 across nearly 100 deals, Singapore is set to smash previous records, with even the annual funding growth rate rising nearly 50%.
This increased funding for Singaporean fintech startups points to a maturing and sophisticated market that now caters to the underbanked and unbanked populations of South East Asia, propelling fintech funding in the Asia Pacific region to a whopping US$5.5 billion, more than twice as much in 2020.
Fintech attracts senior talent and stricter AML rules with crypto regulation being the key. Following a $4 million seed funding, one of this month’s Singaporean startups Cabital, announced the integration of the KYC and AML toolkit through its partnership with SumSub to conduct secure biometric checks in just 2 minutes. The company has also recently added the European Union’s Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payment method, enabling Euro holders to seamlessly change between euros and cryptocurrencies in a safe way, just like national payments.
As Jonas Narbutas, Cabital’s Senior Money Laundering Reporting Officer commented, “regulating the cryptocurrency industry is essential to its sustainable growth. We will continue to further strengthen the industry’s unprecedented level of legitimacy by leading in compliance risk and promoting a culture embedded in transparency and good business ethics.”
Environmental Crypto in Singapore
Now, Singapore is set for another pioneering role, which naturally has connections to the world of technology, and that’s environmental crypto.
With the approaching COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference taking place from 31 October to 12 November 2021 in Glasgow, UK in partnership with Italy, the Singaporean company Cyberdyne Tech Exchange (CTX) has released and sold the first tranche of a new asset-backed Carbon Neutrality Token (CNT). This new token resolves one of the most challenging aspects of the Paris Agreement (COP21) – the ability to properly account for and track carbon credits, using proprietary protocols and blockchain technologies.
Singapore’s robust fintech credentials, with crypto itself not only continuing to revolutionize finance and trade, but now also proudly boast of true environmental excellence.