Sopnendu Mohanty, the chief fintech officer of the city’s regulator, spoke in a cordial manner just days after saying Singapore is “brutal and unrelentingly hard” on bad behavior in the crypto industry.

In a LinkedIn post summarising Mohanty’s thoughts from the Point Zero Forum in Switzerland, he commended the leadership of some of the biggest firms in the sector.

“Leaders from the crypto/token space (Binance, Crypto.com, Ripple and others) are fully committed to building a secure and sustainable innovation solving real problems, and identifying real-economy opportunities,” said Mohanty of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). “It is heartening to see the clarity among chief executive officers (CEOs) on the need to create a responsible and compliant industry. The future is on the right path.”

Mohanty’s praise comes after the digital currency market continues to spiral downwards following a broad-based sell-off in digital assets and the collapse of high-profile tokens.

The relationship between Singapore and the industry soured amid issues including a slow regulatory process for licence approvals and a ban on crypto advertising that surprised the sector. Singapore was an early proponent of blockchain technology and officials have expressed ambitions to be a global crypto hub.

With three in-principle approvals issued recently including to digital currency exchange Crypto.com, it seems that the MAS may be picking up the pace on licences.

While Mohanty’s post wasn’t entirely vague, it did include some of the caution that has also been a hallmark of Singapore’s approach to crypto.

“Web 3.0/Crypto is a very nascent industry, but the promises have run ahead of the technology maturity. The industry is filled with speculators and scammers, and magical sound bites with clickbait headlines are filling the space,” Mohanty said. “Let’s not create a forced error and throw the baby out with the bathwater.”