RaviMenon

“The future of Juno, Plutus, and Mercury is becoming increasingly intertwined,” said Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, in a policy speech last year. Menon was making an esoteric reference to money, finance, and the internet, and at Singapore’s attempts to straddle the three by becoming a global fintech hub. As the head of Singapore’s de facto central bank since 2011, Menon has been tasked with preserving the city-state’s status as a global hub for the wealth management industry, in an era of rapid changes to how money moves and value is stored. While central bankers are often focused mainly on stability, the MAS has given fintech companies considerable leeway to try out services and to innovate. In recent years, that’s included crypto businesses. Singapore initially seemed to want crypto exchanges to set up in the city, but, like in other jurisdictions, the regulator seems to have cooled, as it tries to balance the risks of money laundering, cybercrime, terrorist financing and mis-selling of investments.