Sygnum Singapore, a subsidiary of Switzerland-based cryptocurrency bank Sygnum, received a license to offer crypto brokerage services to accredited investors and institutions in Singapore.
On Oct. 3, Sygnum Singapore announced it acquired a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). Speaking to Cointelegraph, a Sygnum Singapore spokesperson revealed that the company transitioned from in-principle approval to a full license within four months.
Sygnum Singapore secured in-principle regulatory approval to offer three additional regulated activities under its capital markets services license in March 2022. The company caters to institutional investors, corporate clients, high-net-worth individuals and other financial institutions. Speaking about the latest MPI license approval, the Sygnum Singapore spokesperson stated:
“This additional Licence enables us to extend our service offering to also offer DPT [digital payment token] trading services to our clients.”
It was also revealed that the company plans to expand its regulated offering to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets, such as Hong Kong. “Receiving the MPI license allows us to bring more of Sygnum’s suite of fully regulated crypto offerings to our clients in Singapore,” the spokesperson told Cointelegraph.
Sygnum manages nearly $3.5 billion in assets under management across over 60 countries, having crypto footprints in Luxembourg and Abu Dhabi.
On Oct. 1, Coinbase announced the approval of its MPI license application from the MAS. As Cointelegraph previously explained, MPI-licensed firms are authorized to conduct payment services without being subjected to transaction limits of 3 million Singapore dollars ($2.2 million) for any payment service.
“From our initial involvement in the Lion City, we’ve identified Singapore as a vital market for Coinbase,” the exchange noted in the announcement, stressing that more than 30% of Singaporeans were found to be current or past owners of crypto in its recent survey.
A Reform UK canvasser who used a racial slur against Rishi Sunak has called himself a “total fool” and said he has learned his lesson.
Footage from an undercover Channel 4 reporter showed Reform campaigner Andrew Parker using a discriminatory term about the prime minister, as well as saying the army should “just shoot” migrants crossing the Channel.
Mr Parker, who was canvassing in Clacton, where Reform leader Nigel Farage is standing, told Sky News the sting operation had “proper taught me a lesson”.
He said: “There’s lots of old people like me who are sick to death of this woke agenda… but on that particular day, I was set up and set up good and proper.
“It’s proper taught me a lesson – I was a total fool.”
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Pressed on his use of the racial slur, he said he was an “old man” and “I still use old words”.
“There’s no racism at all in it. I am a decent guy to be honest”, he added.
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In the Channel 4 report, Mr Parker can be heard using offensive language about the prime minister and also discussing migrants arriving in small boats in Deal, Kent
He said: “Army recruitment – get the young recruits there, with guns, on the f****** beach, target practice. F****** just shoot them.”
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Sunak ‘hurt’ over Reform race row
He also described Islam as a “disgusting cult”.
Mr Farage said he was “dismayed” by the “appalling” comments and has sought to distance himself from the campaigner, saying he was simply “someone who turned up to help” and “has nothing to do with the party”.
He has also used reports Mr Parker was a part-time actor to suggest the incriminating film was a “total set-up” – something Channel 4 has strongly denied.
Mr Parker himself says his volunteering for Reform was separate from his acting job – and claims he was “goaded” into making the comments.
A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “We strongly stand by our rigorous and duly impartial journalism which speaks for itself.
Image: Farage has tried to distance himself from the comments
“We met Mr Parker for the first time at Reform UK party headquarters, where he was a Reform party canvasser.
“We did not pay the Reform UK canvasser or anyone else in this report. Mr Parker was not known to Channel 4 News and was filmed covertly via the undercover operation.”
The broadcaster’s investigation also caught another canvasser describing the Pride flag as “degenerate” and suggesting members of the LGBT community are paedophiles.
A spokesman for Essex Police said the force is “urgently assessing” the comments “to establish if there are any criminal offences”.
PM ‘hurt and angry’ over racial slur
Mr Sunak reacted furiously to the comments and said Mr Farage had “some questions to answer”.
He said: “My two daughters have to see and hear Reform people who campaign for Nigel Farage calling me an effing P***. It hurts and it makes me angry and I think he has some questions to answer.
“And I don’t repeat those words lightly. I do so deliberately because this is too important not to call out clearly for what it is.
“As prime minister, but more importantly as a father of two young girls, it’s my duty to call out this corrosive and divisive behaviour.”
Unrepentant Farage doubles down
However, Mr Farage was unrepentant when grilled on the row during a BBC Question Time leaders’ special, saying he was “not going to apologise” for the actions of people associated with his party.
Reform UK has faced a series of controversies relating to election candidates saying offensive or racist things.
Asked why his party “attracts racists and extremists”, the former UKIP leader claimed he had “done more to drive the far right out of British politics than anybody else alive” – claiming he took on the British Nationalist Party (BNP) a decade ago.
He also appeared to throw his predecessor Richard Tice under the bus when read racist and xenophobic comments made by Reform candidates, saying he “inherited a start up party” and has “no idea” why the people who said those things had been selected.
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