Singapore's central bank seeks stricter rules on retail cryptocurrency trading

In a growing effort to mitigate risks surrounding cryptocurrencies, the Monetary Authority of Singapore is looking to impose stricter regulations on retail-driven crypto trading. Moreover, those rules could include "placing limits on retail participation, and rules on the use of leverage when transacting in cryptocurrencies," said Tharman Shanmugaratnam, minister in charge of MAS, in parliament on July 4. When asked whether the MAS seeks to implement more restrictions on crypto trading platforms, Shanmugaratnam responded, Since 2017, MAS has consistently warned that cryptocurrencies are not suitable investments for the retail public. Most cryptocurrencies are subject to sharp speculative price swings. Recent events have vividly demonstrated the risks, with prices of several cryptocurrencies falling drastically." The potential move came after the MAS in mid-January told crypto service providers not to promote their crypto services to the public in Singapore. In the cryptoverse, bitcoin (BTC-USD) -1% is falling slightly to $19.5K as of shortly before 12:30 p.m. ET. And ethereum (ETH-USD) -1.4% is drifting down to $1.09K over the past 24 hours. In June. Crypto.com and two other crypto firms received in-principle licenses from Singapore.