But the key lesson from the upheaval in the global crypto industry is clear: investing in cryptocurrencies is highly risky. This is what MAS has been warning the public about for the past 5 years. In fact, MAS’ repeated warnings against retail investments in cryptocurrencies and ratcheting up of policies to restrain retail access have raised some questions as to where MAS stands with respect to the digital asset ecosystem. Next month, we will organise a dedicated Green Shoots seminar to share our strategies to develop Singapore as digital asset hub. We will explain our position on cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, blockchains, tokenisation, smart contracts, digital assets, etc. – their risks and opportunities; shortcomings and potential. We will set out how our developmental and regulatory approaches will work in harmony to achieve the vision of Singapore as an innovative and responsible digital asset hub. FINANCIAL SECTOR PERFORMANCE AND STRATEGIES Let me now turn to the financial sector, which continued to perform well in 2021. Value-added grew by 7.4%. FinTech investments hit a high of $ billion. A total of 4300 net jobs were created in financial services and fintech. The global financial landscape has continued to transform. The Russia-Ukraine war, COVID-19 pandemic, and US-China tensions have introduced new risks and uncertainties for financial markets and institutions. The nature of globalisation is changing and supply chains are adjusting, with a greater focus on business resilience. At the same time, structural trends towards greater adoption of technology and the drive towards sustainability have gathered pace.
In China, growth has slowed in the face of mobility restrictions imposed in line with the zero-COVID policy but inflation is not a problem and there is sufficient policy space to support growth. In emerging Asia, where the uptick in inflation has been more recent and less sharp, the lifting of mobility and travel restrictions is likely to spur a recovery in demand and  possibly some price pressures. Demand-pull price pressures have been accentuated by a variety of supply-side disruptions, worsening inflation. Supply chain frictions began to emerge in H2 last year, even before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Intermittent movement restrictions in various economies caused bottlenecks across production chains, for example by interrupting freight handling in major ports. The most significant supply shock has, of course, been the Russia-Ukraine war. Russia and Ukraine are major producers and exporters of oil and gas, and a variety of food grains and commodities. The disruption to these supplies has sparked inflationary effects across the world. The disruption of Russian oil and gas supplies to Europe is pushing up energy prices worldwide. The impact on fuel and electricity prices across the world has been almost instantaneous. The disruption of grain exports from Russia and Ukraine is having knock-on price effects across the food production chain. The two countries make up 25% of global exports of wheat and barley, and 14% of corn. These grains are used in a variety of foodstuff, whose prices have consequently been pushed up.