There has been no regulation explicitly targeting smart contracts in Singapore so far. However, regulation of smart contracts in Singapore will likely fall to the jurisdiction of the Electronic Transactions Act, which will probably be the reference authority for this topic, as its language is robust enough to encompass blockchain technologies. It deserves to be read in full.

• In Part II, section 6, it was declared that “information shall not be denied legal effect, validity or enforceability solely on the ground that it is in the form of an electronic record.”

• In Part II, Section 11, it was declared that “it is declared that in the context of the formation of contracts, an offer and the acceptance of an offer may be expressed by means of electronic communications. Where an electronic communication is used in the formation of a contract, that contract shall not be denied validity or enforceability solely on the ground that an electronic communication was used for that purpose.

• In Part II, section 15, it was declared that “A contract formed by the interaction of an automated message system and a natural person, or by the interaction of automated message systems, shall not be denied validity or enforceability solely on the ground that no natural person reviewed or intervened in each of the individual actions carried out by the automated message systems or the resulting contract.”

• If these clauses apply to smart contracts, which seems likely as of Dec 18 2017 (Singapore has been quite open and supportive of changes in FinTech and would likely not seek to over-regulate smart contracts), then smart contracts may just be legally binding contracts like all other electronic contracts. Singapore has not yet issues guidance to make this specific, as of Dec 18, 2017.


Sources:

• Electronic Transactions Act