A Daenary’s and Co cryptocurrency ATM booth is pictured in Singapore, after the Singaporean crypto ATM operator said it had ceased crypto trading services at its five crypto ATMs to comply to the new guideline from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Monday January. 19, 2022. REUTERS/Edgar Su

SINGAPORE, Aug 29 (Reuters) – The head of Singapore’s central bank said the city-state was considering new measures that would make it harder for retail investors to trade in cryptocurrencies at a time when they appear to be ” irrationally unaware” of the risks.

“Adding friction to retail access to cryptocurrencies is an area we are looking at,” Ravi Menon, chief executive of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said at a seminar on Monday.

“These may include client suitability testing and restricting the use of leverage and credit facilities for cryptocurrency trading,” he added.

The MAS issued guidelines in January to prevent cryptocurrency trading service providers from promoting their services to the public, as part of its attempts to protect retail investors from potential risks. Read more

Reporting by Anshuman Daga and Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.