In a remarkable development the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced that they will launch a collaborative effort to develop a hi-tech Delivery versus Payment (DvP) platform.

Deloitte and Nasdaq exploring settlement of tokenised assets

This will not only improve settlement times for financial entities and investors, who are looking to conduct transactions through digital currencies, but will also lead to greater operational efficiency. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is a powerful Singaporean public body which serves the roles of Singapore’s chief financial regulator and its central bank.

The MAS handles matters related to money circulation, banking, securities and insurance-industry regulation. DvP is utilized to counter the risks involved in the settlement process of securities and ensures that various types of assets are transacted only when the corresponding payments have been made.

Established companies betting on Blockchain

Support for this collaboration will come from established financial players like NASDAQ and Deloitte, along with blockchain startup ‘Anquan’. Stakeholders of this project will make use of the open-source technology developed during Project Ubin, a blockchain project launched earlier by the MAS to test the settlement of interbank transactions.

The ultimate aim is to develop a distributed network where different financial entities can engage in securities by utilizing blockchain platforms. Chief Fintech Officer of MAS, Sopnendu Mohanty, hailed this announcement and said:

“Singapore has a vast pool of talent and expertise in the blockchain arena and by this collaboration of big financial players other local Fintech companies are going to benefit greatly”.

Tinku Gupta, Head of Technology at SGX said,