The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has made the decision to support blockchain technology in the country through preferential taxes and public investment in light of recent occurrences.

1. Torque Crypto: What Went Wrong
The region's and Southeast Asia's main hub for the cryptocurrency business is
Singapore. The blockchain industry will be ranked as one of the top 3 national trends in
2020. As a result, it is not surprising that the country has recently seen a significant
increase in the number of enterprises specializing in digital assets.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has made the decision to support
blockchain technology in the country through preferential taxes and public investment in
light of recent occurrences. The MAS believes that Singapore's economic growth will be
significantly boosted by the bitcoin industry. Transactions using cryptocurrencies are
governed by the Payment Services Act primarily to stop money laundering and terrorism
financing.
Singapore's cryptocurrency market's current state
In an effort to establish the Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Industry Association,
Singapore has joined a number of other nations. Small and medium-sized blockchain
and cryptocurrency businesses will receive support from the association.

2. However, there have been a lot of fraud incidents in the cryptocurrency market recently.
Many of these cryptocurrency firms are nothing more than trendsetters who set up
Ponzi schemes to steal money from unwary customers.
Torque is an online cryptocurrency trading platform founded in 2019 in the British Virgin
Islands by Singaporean Bernard Ong. Torque appeared to be a multi-level marketing
investment platform where users are expected to deposit money while bringing in new
users.
Members who use their business concept to sign up new investors receive a referral
commission. The trading platform was created with the goal of making money for its
investors by trading cryptocurrency on their behalf.
To accomplish their daily profits between 0.15% and 0.45%, Torque combines manual
trading with artificial intelligence. Without using smart contracts, the platform makes
money for its investors by using arbitrage trading and scalping.
Why Happened?
1. Investment loss
More than 70 reports regarding Torque Trading systems have been made in Singapore
as of March 2021. Most of its small-time investors assert that they have completely lost
all of their cryptocurrency assets. A key employee of the firm disregarded corporate
policy and engaged in unlawful trading, which resulted in huge losses from the
investors' accounts, according to information provided to retail investors who were
claiming losses of millions of dollars.
All of this occurred just three days before the Chinese New Year in early February 2021.
There is no way to contact the company's owner, Singaporean businessman Bernard
Ong, because he provided an incomplete address in the British Virgin Islands.
2. What went wrong?
Mr. Ong asked the British Island courts to dissolve the firm. Unfortunately, his request
was approved in the middle of March, and Mr. Jason Kardachi and Mr. Philip Smith from
Borrelli Walsh were chosen to serve as the company's joint liquidators.
As of March 2nd 2021, according to Borrelli Walsh's estimation, the creditors had
US$325 million in claims, but as of March 14 2021, the only assets in the liquidator's
possession were only worth SS$9.1 million.

3. The CEO of Torque is said to have reported an employee to the authorities for
engaging in illicit leveraged trading that resulted in large losses in Singapore. They
claimed to be based elsewhere and were unable to be reached, nevertheless.
Cryptocurrency schemes are now more widespread than ever. The media has
exaggerated how quickly people are becoming wealthy because to cryptoassets.
Fraudsters are now defrauding unsuspecting investors of their hard-earned money by
taking advantage of their ignorance of the investing in the crypto assets field.
The following are some factors contributing to the surge in crypto asset scams:
Huge media attention makes it a frequent target for phishing and other scams.
Compared to traditional stock markets, cryptocurrency marketplaces are less regulated.
Social media increases the clamor surrounding the trading of crypto assets.
Investors seeking a quick way to get rich are drawn to the rising prices of crypto assets.