Singapore’s Financial Watchdog Halts Local Security Token Offering (STO) for Regulatory Violations

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has recently decided to prevent a Security Token Offering (STO), which is similar to an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) from being held in the country. According to the official announcement made the local authority, the STO was violating the rules.

The current STO rules of the country affirm that all STOs have to be compliant with the securities laws and they need to be properly registered with the Monetary Authority of Singapore in order to offer their tokens to citizens of the country.

According to the reports, the STO was halted because it was not registered with the monetary authority. There is an exemption that would make that possible, however, it could only be used if the company agreed to advertising restrictions. Unfortunately, the company has failed to comply with the law and posted an article on LinkedIn.

After the company broke the rules, the authority was quick to warn it and officially suspend its STO.

About the Monetary Authority of Singapore

The work of the Monetary Authority of Singapore is based on protecting the local investors of the country against scammers and companies which are not very secure. The organization often warns investors against the risks and possibilities of fraud that some crypto companies have, especially when the companies to do have a proven track record.

For being responsible for securities, the department is also responsible for enforcing all the crypto regulation of the country at the same time.

Recently, the authority has finished the edition of the guidelines that are used by all the payment providers in Singapore. The idea was to finally formally put cryptos under this guide, which would define them as service providers instead of being in a gray legal space.

Among other things, the authority recently participated in a blockchain trial that was conducted by the Singapore Exchange last year.