MAS Collaborates With Finance Industry On Asset Tokenization

• MAS has announced partnering with the  private financial institutions to expand asset tokenization initiatives.
• Developments under Project Guardian will catalyze the institutional adoption of digital assets.
• The partnership is expected to free up liquidity, unlock investment opportunities, and increase the efficiency of financial markets.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced partnering with private financial institutions to expand asset tokenization initiatives and develop foundational capabilities to scale tokenized markets. The Singaporean regulator published the announcement on its official website, promising that developments under Project Guardian will catalyze the institutional adoption of digital assets.

According to MAS, some of the partnership aims include freeing up liquidity, unlocking investment opportunities, and increasing the efficiency of financial markets. The Singaporean regulatory authority also noted that Project Guardian’s industry group of 17 financial institutions (FIs) has initiated five additional industry pilots to test promising asset tokenization use cases.

The five pilots listed by MAS include Citi, T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., and Fidelity International, which will test institutional-grade mechanisms to price and execute bilateral digital asset trades efficiently and explore real-time post-trade reporting and analytics of digital asset trades. Other pilots involved in the testing process are BNY Mellon and OCBC, Ant Group, Franklin Templeton, J.P. Morgan, and Apollo. 

There are unique responsibilities for each pilot in specific areas to test and trial. According to MAS, the pilot exercise potentially paves the way for integration across the capital market’s value chain, including listing, distribution, trading, settlement, and asset servicing.

MAS also announced the launching of a new funds workstream within the Project Guardian industry group. The workstream will focus on the native issuance of Variable Capital Company (VCC) funds on digital asset networks. It is to address tax, policy, and legal considerations while increasing distribution channels for asset managers.

Also described in the announcement is a collaboration with international policymakers and FIs to explore the design of an open, digital infrastructure that will host tokenized financial assets and applications. The Singaporean Authority also noted that these partnerships aim to develop an Interlinked Network Model (INM), which will serve as a common framework for exchanging digital assets across independent networks.