New Crypto Company Code Of Practice Supported Central Bank Of Singapore

The Association of Cryptocurrency Enterprises And Start-ups of Singapore (ACCESS) stands as a group that consists of more than 400 businesses involved with cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. The non-profit organization had recently issued out a code of practice that digital asset payment providers should adhere to, and was given guidance by Singapore’s central bank as well.

Creating Code Of Conduct To Help With Regulation

The Monetary Authority of Singapore stands as the so-called facilitator of this initiative, aiming to help assist in regulatory compliance, as well as enhance conduct within the crypto industry at large. ACCESS also stated that the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) took part in the development of this code of conduct

This guidance was designed around the Payment Services Act of the country, and the requirements it mandates. This Act was updated earlier this year in order to mandate crypto businesses to register for a license should they wish to operate within Singapore as a whole.

Standardization Is Key

In particular, the newly-amended Act aimed at creating a standardization across the businesses, in order to combat terrorist financing and money laundering. The primary means of doing so was through Know-Your-Customer (KYC) best practices.

Anson Zeall stands as the Chairman of ACCESS, and stated the guidance would help point digital payment service providers, be it locally or globally, into the “right direction.” With it, companies can gain successful applications for the applicable licenses to operate under the Act within Singapore.

The code of practice had been in development for two years, now, and endured that it was “in line” with both the interest of the regulators and the members of ACCESS as well. This was made clear by way of a tweet Zeall had made on Friday.

It’s been 2 years of work on the Code of Practice and finally, we’re rolling it out. A lot has happened in the 2 years, including the @FATFNews Virtual Asset guidelines published in June 2019, formed @idaxaofficial at the @V20Osaka summit at the G20 leaders' summit in Osaka,

— Anson Zeall (@0xa8l) August 14, 2020

Complying With FATF

The code of conduct stands as one of the many efforts Singapore has done in order to align itself with the guidance for global supervisory frameworks that the Financial Action Task Force had given out back in June of 2019. This framework was sto help countries handle the regulation of virtual asset service providers, or VASPs.

ACCESS made it clear that the code itself isn’t set in stone, however. It’s expected that it sees an evolution as time goes on, with continued updates happening from time to time. This, according to ACCESS, will help keep the code relevant as time moves forward and new innovations are made.