On November 15, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the regulatory authority overseeing Singapore’s financial landscape, unveiled plans to propel the widespread adoption of asset tokenization through the introduction of five innovative pilot projects.
In a strategic move aimed at fostering institutional acceptance of digital assets, MAS introduced “Project Guardian,” a collaborative effort involving 17 major financial institutions. The aim of this consortium is to explore and test various use cases for asset tokenization.
Among the five newly initiated pilot projects, participants include Citi, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Fidelity International. These entities are actively investigating institutional-grade mechanisms for pricing and executing bilateral digital asset trades.
Simultaneously, BNY Mellon and OCBC are conducting trials for a cross-border FX payment solution. This initiative is designed to facilitate secure and interoperable payment solutions, addressing the evolving needs of the financial landscape.
Ant Group, another key player, is experimenting with a treasury management solution aimed at enhancing global liquidity management funding. Meanwhile, Franklin Templeton is delving into the issuance of a tokenized money market fund using a Variable Capital Company (VCC) structure.
The consortium also features J.P. Morgan and Apollo, collaborating on leveraging digital assets to facilitate more seamless investment processes.
Beyond these five pilot projects, MAS is actively pursuing other initiatives to expand the scope of tokenized markets. Notable among these initiatives are Global Layer One (GL1), a platform designed to facilitate the trading of tokenized assets across global liquidity pools, and the Interlinked Network Model (INM), which serves as a common framework for the exchange of digital assets.
Singapore and, more broadly, China have been at the forefront of exploring opportunities presented by Web3 technologies.
Recent developments in China include the official recognition of non-fungible token (NFT) theft as a criminal offense, aligning it with other illegal activities.
Additionally, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology revealed a comprehensive three-year action plan in September, emphasizing the drive for metaverse innovation across industries with a focus on security and technological advancements.
