The DPT license will allow Coinbase to offer regulated products and services in Singapore, where it has been active for the last few years.
Crypto exchange Coinbase has received an in-principal approval for a Digital Payment Token (DPT) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank, the company said in a blog post on Monday.
The DPT license obtainment can be seen as a major victory for the exchange. Binance, Coinbase’s top competitor, withdrew its application for the license in late 2021, citing regulatory issues. Coinbase joins Crypto.com, Paxos, and a few others who have managed to receive the license.
Coinbase will now be able to offer regulated DPT products and services in Singapore, where it has been active for a few years. The firm opened a tech hub in late 2021 and has about 100 employees in Singapore, most of whom are engineers.
Coinbase Ventures, Coinbase’s investment vehicle, has invested in over 15 Singapore-based web3 startups in the past three years. The exchange said it’s continuing to work with local web3 community groups such as ACCESS, Singapore Fintech Association, and advisory.sg.
Singapore is seen as one of the leading countries in web3 adoption. The city-state has been experimenting with blockchain technology for a few years, showing interest in crypto concepts like the metaverse and decentralized finance (DeFi). It strives to become the center for crypto adoption.
On the Flipside
- It’s unclear when Coinbase is going to launch its products in Singapore
- Crypto activity is down across the board
Why You Should Care
Coinbase is one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world. Receiving a DPT license in Singapore will allow the firm to introduce more people to the crypto world and help the city-state to become the center for crypto adoption.
Read more about Singapore’s efforts in DeFi:
Singapore Begins Trials for Digital Asset Tokenization Project
Read more about Singapore’s experiments in the metaverse:
Singaporeans May Soon Be Able To Host Weddings And Court Cases In The Metaverse
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