Singapore advances asset tokenization with new MAS frameworks

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced a multipronged effort to advance the commercialization of asset tokenization. To achieve its goals, the MAS has drawn from various projects and produced new frameworks to provide guidance.

Scaling up successful tokenization tests

Speaking at the first MAS Layer One Summit, deputy managing director Leong Sing Chiong reviewed the successes of the large financial institutions participating in Project Guardian in demonstrating the potential for tokenization in foreign exchange and funds. More than 40 institutions have carried out more than 15 trials across seven jurisdictions using six currencies.

The central banker also identified the limitations of those trials:

“No one has really succeeded in achieving scale.  Many promising use cases have not yet gained industry wide traction.  Further, there is a need for supporting infrastructure to enable good use cases to scale beyond individual networks.”

To deploy tokenized assets at scale, liquidity, infrastructure, standardized frameworks and common settlement assets are needed, he said. The MAS is addressing each of those issues.

Related: Ghana, Singapore conduct trade in semi-fungible token pilot project

A masterplan for commercialization

Launched in 2022, Project Guardian already facilitates deepening liquidity through capital raising, secondary trading and asset servicing and settlement, the MAS said in a statement.

To address infrastructure needs, the MAS’s Global Layer One, launched in 2023 and developed by BNY, Citi, JPMorgan, MUFG and Societe Generale-FORGE, will expand its scope in the coming year. Euroclear and HSBC will join the initiative as it develops principles for use and its ecosystem.

The Project Guardian industry group created two frameworks for the implementation of tokenization that were also published on Nov. 4. The Guardian Fixed Income Framework integrates international organizations’ standards and principles into a guide to implementing tokenization in debt capital markets.

The Guardian Funds Framework recommends best practices for fund tokenization. This includes the Guardian Composable Token Taxonomy.

Finally, the SGD Testnet will be made available to facilitate access to mutually agreeable tokenized money for payments and securities settlements. Participants in Project Guardian and Project Orchid will participate using Singapore dollar wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Project Orchid developed use cases for retail CBDC and introduced the concept of purpose-bound money — a form of programmability — which will be implemented on the testnet.

Commercialization is the logical next step when a project achieves its goals. mBridge announced its launch as a minimum viable product in October 2023.

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