Singapore MAS Chief Hopes Crypto Tech Will Survive Crash

Ravi Menon, who is the chief of the Singapore's de facto central bank, expressed hope on Monday that technologies underpinning cryptocurrencies and the blockchain would survive a crash in the former, news agency Reuters reported.

The Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore said at a UBS Wealth Insights event that he hoped an eventual crash in cryptocurrencies will not undermine the much deeper, and more meaningful technology associated with them.

Menon also did not rule out the Singapore central bank launching cryptocurrencies to sell directly to public, but was doubtful whether it would be a good idea, the report said.

In December, Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said that his bank found the distributed ledger technology behind blockchain and bitcoin interesting. The technology could improve transactions between financial institutions, he added.

While Carney was also not enthusiastic about the central bank issuing a virtual currency, he stressed that the recent jump in the prices of cryptocurrencies did not pose any threat to financial stability.

Cryptocurrencies have seen monumental growth in value over the past couple of months. Central banks and governments across the world have issued warnings against trading in cryptocurrencies.

As of 5.31 am ET on Monday, Bitcoin was up 0.97 percent at $13,874.60, while Ethereum was down 1.61 percent at $1,328.53 on CoinMarketCap.

On January 13, Bank Indonesia warned the country's citizens against trading and speculating in virtual currencies.

"Virtual currencies are vulnerable to bubble risks, and susceptible to be used for money laundering and terrorism financing, therefore can potentially impact financial system stability and cause financial harm to society," the bank said in a statement.

Last week, South Korean authorities launched a wide ranging probe into the cryptocurrency trading. South Korea is one of the leading markets for digital currencies.

Korean tax authorities raided some crypto exchanges last week over concerns of tax evasion and are exploring legislation to ban trading in cryptocurrencies.