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Cryptocurrency business in Singapore should comply with sanctions against Russia, as the country tries to circumvent them with digital assets, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on Monday.
According to a report from Channel NewsAsia, all financial institutions in Singapore, including digital payment token service providers (DPTSP) licensed to operate in Singapore have to comply with sanctions. A spokesperson for the regulator said:
"For instance, DPTSPs have to perform customer due diligence to identify and verify the identities of their customers and the customers' beneficial owners, and screen their customers and their transacting counterparties."
Although Singapore is open to digital innovations, crypto-focused businesses are required to "have robust ongoing monitoring" to register potential attempts to evade sanctions, the spokesperson added.
In October, head of the Finance Ministry's Financial Policy Department, Ivan Chebeskov, said in an interview with a local news outlet that Russian companies had started carrying out cross-border settlements using cryptocurrencies.
While Chebeskov declined to elaborate on what companies turned to crypto, he noted that the volume has increased after Russia has become the world's most-sanctioned nation.
