MAS pushes on with asset tokenisation in financial services for commercialisation

Singapore is pushing ahead in its plans for asset tokenisation in financial services so that commercialisation of the sector can take place.

- Claire Huang

What the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will do is connect a broader set of products and services from participants of its tokenisation projects to multiple currencies and assets.

This is expected to improve fund raising, secondary trading, asset servicing and settlement of tokenised assets.

Tokenisation is the process of digitally representing real and physical assets such as bonds and equities on the blockchain.

The plans come under MAS' Project Guardian that was launched in May 2022. It explores the use of asset tokenisation in capital markets.

So far, the project has roped in more than 40 financial institutions, industry associations and international policymakers across seven jurisdictions.

Participants in the project have carried out more than 15 industry trials in six currencies across multiple financial products to improve real-time payments.

MAS' deputy managing director Leong Sing Chiong said on Nov 4 that for tokenisation to achieve industry-wide adoption, there needs to be deeper liquidity in this area in the primary and secondary markets.