In response to the cryptocurrency bear market, Singapore’s largest bank, DBS, plans to increase its cryptocurrency and digital asset offers to 300,000 new clients, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
In a recent interview, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta stressed the need of reputable financial institutions entering the market for digital asset services due to recent losses suffered by retail investors in the crypto market crisis.
According to the Financial Times, DBS’s brokerage arm has only allowed a select group of under 1,000 institutional and rich clients by invitation to use its digital exchange since receiving a cryptocurrency license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore last year.
Gupta claims that the bank’s 300,000 clients in Asia, including private banks, accredited investors, other exchanges, and funds, would soon have access to bitcoin services.
According to Gupta, who spoke to the Financial Times, “people expect us to be a pioneer in the field and to continue to push boundaries,” DBS can set up “guardrails” and protections that will result in “better outcomes” for investors.
Temasek, the government investment firm, owns over 30% of DBS, but the bank’s intentions to grow come after a difficult year in Singapore’s cryptocurrency market, which saw firms like Three Arrows Capital declare bankruptcy.
Gupta remarked in an interview with the Financial Times on the difficulties facing Singapore’s crypto regulators: “On the one side, we want to be a worldwide crypto hub. On the other hand, we’re also very concerned about our own citizens losing money on this risky asset class.
