Blockchain

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong: Not All Problems Need a Blockchain Solution

by Fintech News Singapore July 9, 2019

Prime Minister Lee Hsien advised sober assessment of blockchain technology in a Facebook post shared earlier. Ironically on his Facebook post he was also commenting on the Facebook’s controversial cryptocurrency project, Libra.

Describing Facebook’s Libra, he said it has “a lot of hype, and whether this is really the next big things remains to be seen”.

He further adds that we should not be swept up by all the hype surrounding blockchain and assess the technology for what it really is, understand it’s limitations and realise not every problem needs a blockchain solution

That is not to say the Prime Minister of the fintech-friendly island nation is categorically against blockchain, he pointed out that the technology itself has interesting possibilities and that the Monetary Authority of Singapore(MAS) is actively exploring use cases.

He was likely alluding to Project Ubin, which most recently successfully trialled a cross border payment between Singapore and Canada

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s pragmatic stance of caution is mirrored by MAS who has also expressed some reservations on Facebook’s cryptocurrency project, Libra.

In a previous statement, Ravi Menon, Managing Director, MAS shared that the key challenge is figuring out the beast that is Facebook’s Libra, and which box they fit into.

Ravi Menon also stressed that despite the potential benefit of Facebook’s Libra, concerns about the way it would function are “not trivial”.

Featured image via Chwee from the Ministry of Communications and Information