Singapore’s largest bank may be entering crypto, according to CoinTelegraph. DBS Digital Exchange will provide access to “an interconnected network of solutions to tap the enormous potential of private markets and digital currencies,” according to a cached web page, apparently posted in error and then taken down.
Possible “Early” Announcements
The bank will make no further announcements until such approvals are verified, they added.
The exchange will also provide tokenization services, providing companies with the ability to collect funds through the cached page by issuing digital forms of securities and properties.
Assets will be retained by a dedicated, “institutional grade” custodian set up by DBS, called DBS Digital Custody, rather than by the exchange. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the de facto central bank of the city-state, will ultimately oversee cryptocurrency exchange.
There will be four top cryptocurrencies on offer for trading against the Singapore dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Japanese yen and U.S. dollar: bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ETH and XRP.
About DBS, the Largest Bank in Singapore
According to online reports, DBS is Southeast Asia’s biggest bank by assets.
DBS Bank Ltd, based in Marina Bay, Singapore, is a Singaporean multinational banking and financial services company. Before the present name was adopted on 21 July 2003 to reflect its changing position as a global bank, the business was known as The Development Bank of Singapore Limited.
The bank was set up by the Government of Singapore on 16 July 1968 to take over from the Economic Development Board the operations of industrial financing. Today, its branches can be found island-wide, numbering more than 100.
With total assets of S$518 billion as at 31 December 2017, DBS Bank is the largest bank in Southeast Asia by assets and among the larger banks in Asia.
It has market-dominant positions in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan in consumer banking, treasury and markets, asset management, stock brokerage, equity and debt fund-raising.