MAS, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has outlined new and updated guidelines for business organizations looking to raise capital through ICOs or initial coin offerings.

The changed summary follows up to the announcement of putting forward a “New Payments Framework” lined in the original document. The draft explains the viewpoint of the Singapore Central bank on how it is necessary for the intermediaries to adhere to instructions on Countering Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies.

The Mandates

The intermediaries primarily include all those participants involved in activities about ICO asset. These include all those entities that manufacture tokens to the ones that facilitate trading on their online portals. It also includes organisations that offer financial consultation in regards to tokens- almost every participant is subject to the law. Take, for example; it is mandatory for an ICO issuer in Singapore to avail capital market services license, a digital asset exchange to get acknowledged and approved by MAS and a monetary adviser to obtain a financial advisory license from the FAA.

The New Payments Framework explains that all the intermediaries mentioned above have the responsibility of “taking proper steps towards identifying, assessing and understanding their terrorism financing (ML/TF) and money laundering risks.” The updated regulations order the intermediaries to come up with and implement specific internal plans under proper MAS notices that would give the central bank the freedom of monitoring the transactions of the customers along with their financial records.

The Guidelines

The guidelines put forward by the MAS state that even if a particular token is not considered secure, it is necessary to determine its adherence to the CFT/AML acts. This means that they have the responsibility of reporting suspicious activities. The intermediaries would be considered to be illegal if they are found working with groups or individuals believed to be terrorists by the United Nations and the intelligence agencies in Singapore.

The remaining part of the draft features the eleven different varieties of cryptocurrencies and their various obligations.