SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Lim Chong Kin, Drew & Napier LLC
the PSA to apply for either a standard payment institution (SPI) licence or a major payment insti - tution (MPI) licence. On top of compliance with the PSA, licence holders must comply with the MAS’s guidelines and notices, such as the Guidelines on Provision of Digital Payment Token Services to the Pub - lic and the Guidelines on Consumer Protection Measures by DPT Service Providers, revised on 19 September 2024. In addition, all holders of a payment services licence under the PSA that carry on a business of providing DPT services (DPT Licensees) are required to comply with cyber hygiene require - ments set out in the MAS Notice on Cyber Hygiene and the MAS Technology Risk Manage - ment Guidelines, which require financial institu - tions generally to establish sound and robust technology risk governance and maintain cyber resilience. MAS Notice PSN05 on Technology Risk Management was also recently extended to DPT Licensees, to improve information technol - ogy resilience and maintain trust and confidence in DPT services. NFT trading is likely to become more common - place and a part of transacting in the virtual space. While there is no legislation that spe - cifically targets NFTs, issues such as ownership continue to be governed by the principles of intellectual property and contract law. A con - tract for the purchase of NFTs usually contains three distinct subject matters that are capable of ownership by different people: • the first is the code on the blockchain, which may identify and authenticate the asset; • the second is the asset itself; and • the third is the intellectual property rights in respect of the asset.
The relevant intellectual property right is usu - ally copyright, as most NFTs constitute a form of artistic expression that is afforded protection under the Copyright Act 2021 (CA). Therefore, contracts may include the assignment of copy - right or a licence. Assignments of copyright must comply with the formalities stipulated in the CA and must be in writing and signed by or on behalf of the assignor. However, this requirement can easily be met even in the virtual space through the application of the Electronic Transactions Act 2010 (ETA). See 8.1 Trust Services and Elec- tronic Signatures/Digital Identity Schemes for more details on the ETA. In 2022, the Singapore High Court held that the NFTs being considered in a case satisfied the legal criteria to be considered as property and could be subject to proprietary injunctions. With the growing prominence of NFTs, courts and leg - islation can be expected to explore and address complex and novel legal issues raised by NFTs in the upcoming years. 2. Cloud and Edge Computing 2.1 Highly Regulated Industries and Data Protection Limitations are placed on organisations that seek to entrust certain processes or data to the cloud, although most of these limitations are in the context of personal data protection. Applicable Laws and Guidelines The main legislation governing the protection of personal data is the PDPA, which defines “per - sonal data” as data, whether true or not, about an individual who can be identified either from that data, or from that data and other information to which the organisation has or is likely to have access. The PDPA is administered and enforced
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