Share this article

First Mover Americas: Singapore Central Bank Tests Tokenization Alongside JPMorgan, BNY Mellon

The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for Nov. 15, 2023.

Updated Nov 15, 2023, 4:07 p.m. Published Nov 15, 2023, 1:09 p.m.
jwp-player-placeholder

This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.

Latest Prices

cd
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters

Top Stories

Singapore's central bank is starting to test tokenization use cases alongside major traditional finance players including JPMorgan, DBS, and BNY Mellon. The tests will examine bilateral digital asset trades, foreign currency payments, multicurrency clearing and settlement, fund management and automated portfolio rebalancing, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said Wednesday. JPMorgan and Apollo have carried out a "proof of concept" to demonstrate how asset managers could tokenize funds on the blockchain as part of the project, the firms announced concurrently with MAS' statement. The initiative is part of Project Guardian, a policymaker group that includes Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA), the U.K's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) to advance asset tokenization.

OKX, the second-largest cryptocurrency trading platform, is providing derivatives trading without the counterparty risk associated with assets being held on the exchange, enriching an existing arrangement with asset manager CoinShares and custody joint venture Komainu. Since FTX blew up last year, a number of players in the crypto space have devised ways to trade and settle off-exchange from the safe confines of a trusted custody setup. Off-exchange settlement is relatively easily done for spot markets, said Lewis Fellas, the head of hedge-fund solutions at CoinShares. A big differentiator, he said, is providing a similar arrangement when it comes to derivatives trading.

SC Ventures, the fintech investment and venture arm of banking group Standard Chartered, announced new tokenization platform on Tuesday. Libeara will enable the creation of a tokenized Singapore dollar government bond fund for accredited investors, according to the announcement. The platform has also partnered with FundBridge Capital, an organization for fund managers in Singapore. By working with Libeara "we are ensuring that we can provide additional investment opportunities enabled by lower operating costs, higher transparency and higher operational efficiency,” Sue Lynn Lim, CEO and COO of FundBridge Capital said in a statement.

Chart of the Day

cd
  • The chart shows number of bitcoin held in wallets associated with miners or those responsible for minting coins.
  • The balance has declined by 4,775 BTC since Oct. 23, a sign of miners running down their inventory in a rising market.
  • Source: Glassnode

- Omkar Godbole

Trending Posts

More For You

Bitcoin could fall to $10,000 as U.S. recession risk builds, Mike McGlone says

Bitcoin bus (Photo: Olivier Acuna/Modified by CoinDesk)

McGlone links bitcoin’s downturn to record U.S. market cap-to-GDP levels, low equity volatility and rising gold prices, warning of potential contagion into stocks.

What to know:

  • Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone warns that collapsing crypto prices and a potential bitcoin slide toward $10,000 could signal mounting financial stress and foreshadow a U.S. recession.
  • McGlone argues the post-2008 "buy the dip" era may be ending as crypto weakens, stock market valuations sit near century highs relative to GDP, and equity volatility remains unusually low.
  • Market analyst Jason Fernandes counters that a drop to $10,000 bitcoin would likely require a severe systemic shock and recession, calling such an outcome a low-probability tail risk compared with a milder reset or consolidation.