Singapore takes valuable insights from crypto to adopt a strategic approach to AI, warns MAS official against hasty actions. "We have gained crucial lessons from the DLT/digital currency realm,"

Singapore’s financial regulator is urging a measured, long‑term approach to artificial intelligence policy, explicitly citing “tough lessons” from the country’s and the world’s experience with crypto, distributed ledger technology (DLT) and digital currencies. According to comments reported by The Block, a senior Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) official said the rapid, often speculative rush into digital assets had underscored the importance of not “moving fast and breaking things” in emerging technologies, and instead building clear regulatory frameworks, risk controls and governance from the outset. The message is that Singapore wants to be competitive in AI, but without repeating the early, relatively lightly governed phase of the crypto boom that later required substantial corrective regulation. The remarks fit into a broader policy trajectory in which Singapore is trying to position itself as a hub for responsible AI while tightening oversight of digital assets. MAS has already developed detailed expectations for AI model risk management in finance, publishing an information paper on AI and generative AI model risk management in December 2024 and then formal Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management proposing structured governance, lifecycle controls and risk assessment for AI use in financial institutions. In parallel, Singapore’s government launched its National AI Strategy 2.0 in 2023 to scale AI use across the economy, while also advancing AI governance initiatives through agencies such as IMDA. Against that backdrop, the MAS official’s comments signal that Singapore’s “long game” on AI will mirror its more mature stance on crypto: encourage innovation, but insist on strong safeguards, clear accountability and proportionate regulation to avoid the kinds of systemic, consumer and market‑integrity risks that surfaced in the digital asset sector.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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