MAS publishes digital token guide

Chris Hamblin

30 June 2020

Offers or issues of digital tokens may be regulated by the MAS if they are capital markets products as defined by the Securities and Futures Act. These include any securities, units in a collective investment scheme, derivatives contracts and spot foreign exchange contracts for purposes of debt-laden foreign exchange trading.

A digital token may constitute a share, a debenture, a unit in a business trust, a securities-based derivatives contract, or a unit in a collective investment scheme. An offer need not be accompanied by a prospectus (as dictated generally by the Securities and Futures Act) as long as:

it is a small (personal) offer that does not exceed SS$5 million within any 12-month period, subject to certain conditions;
it is a private placement offer made to no more than 50 persons in any 12-month period, subject to certain conditions;
it is made to institutional investors only; or
it is made to accredited investors, subject to certain conditions.

Case studies illustrate the ways in which the relevant laws administered by the MAS might apply and there is an anti-money-laundering section.