MAS Singapore Crypto Licensing: The Complete 2026 Guide

TL;DR

• MAS Singapore crypto licensing runs on the Payment Services Act (PSA) — in force since 28 January 2020 and substantially revised in April 2024 — under which the prized Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence permits Digital Payment Token (DPT) services without monthly transaction caps.
• As of April 2026, around 14 crypto-native firms hold live MAS DPT licences including Coinbase Singapore, Crypto.com, Independent Reserve, DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) institutional, Sygnum, Triple-A, Hashkey, Anchorage Digital, GSR Markets, Block.one, Paxos, Ripple Markets APAC and Circle.
• The Stablecoin Single-Currency Stablecoin (SCS) framework published in August 2023 was the first comprehensive non-bank stablecoin regime worldwide; StraitsX (XSGD/XUSD) is the flagship issuer, with DBS expected to launch a regulated SGD stablecoin.
• Project Guardian brings 40+ banks into institutional DeFi pilots — JPMorgan Onyx, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, BNY Mellon, Standard Chartered, BlackRock and Fidelity among them — making Singapore the global capital of regulated tokenised finance.

Last updated: 2026-04-26 — Educational content only. Not legal or financial advice. Consult qualified Singapore counsel before engaging in regulated activity.

Table of contents

• What is MAS Singapore crypto licensing?
• Payment Services Act (PSA) — the foundation
• The Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence
• Securities and Futures Act (SFA) for security tokens
• The 2023 stablecoin framework (SCS)
• Project Guardian — institutional DeFi at scale
• Project Orchid and the digital SGD
• The 14 firms with live MAS DPT licences
• Anti-money laundering and travel rule
• Why Singapore? Six structural advantages
• Singapore vs Hong Kong vs Dubai vs Tokyo vs Korea
• Recent enforcement: 3AC, Hodlnaut, Vauld, Genesis SG
• The FTX-Singapore aftermath
• How to apply for an MPI licence (step by step)
• Risks and criticism
• The road to 2027
• FAQ
• Glossary

What is MAS Singapore crypto licensing?

MAS Singapore crypto licensing is the legal authorisation framework, administered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), that permits regulated entities to deal in digital payment tokens, custody crypto, issue stablecoins, run digital exchanges, and offer tokenised securities to the public from Singapore. The cornerstone statute is the Payment Services Act 2019 (No. 2 of 2019), supplemented by the Securities and Futures Act for security tokens, the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 for technology risk management, and a series of MAS notices, guidelines and consultations that flesh out the day-to-day supervisory expectations.

For crypto firms, Singapore offers something rare: a single regulator that combines monetary policy, banking supervision, capital markets oversight and innovation policy in one institution. That structural simplicity — combined with English common law, 17% corporate income tax, native English-language administration, and proximity to Greater China, India and Southeast Asia — is why an outsized share of the world's institutional crypto firms chose Singapore as their Asia-Pacific headquarters.

The licensing perimeter has tightened considerably since 2020. The collapses of Three Arrows Capital, Hodlnaut, Vauld, Terra/Luna and FTX in 2022 prompted MAS to ban retail crypto advertising, restrict credit-funded retail trading, accelerate the stablecoin framework, and revoke several in-principle DPT approvals. The result, three years later, is the most credible institutional-crypto regime anywhere in the world — but also one that is genuinely difficult to qualify for.

Payment Services Act (PSA) — the foundation

The Payment Services Act (PSA) repealed the older Money-Changing and Remittance Businesses Act and the Payment Systems (Oversight) Act and replaced them with a single, activity-based statute that came into force on 28 January 2020. The Act was substantially revised by the Payment Services (Amendment) Act 2021, which took effect in tranches between April 2024 and 2025 and explicitly extended the regulatory perimeter to cover custody, OTC and cross-border crypto transfer services that were previously outside scope.

Under the PSA, MAS regulates seven activities:

1. Account issuance services
2. Domestic money transfer services
3. Cross-border money transfer services
4. Merchant acquisition services
5. E-money issuance services
6. Digital payment token (DPT) services — exchanges, brokerages, custody, OTC desks, transfers
7. Money-changing services

Each licensee is authorised on an activity-by-activity basis. A firm wanting to operate a crypto exchange and offer crypto custody and stablecoin issuance must be authorised for each of those activities (or rely on an exemption, sandbox status, or another licensee's regulated wrapper).

There are three classes of licence:

The MPI licence is the licence essentially every serious crypto firm in Singapore wants. Below it, the Standard Payment Institution licence offers only a constrained on-ramp; above it, MAS-regulated banks operate under the Banking Act and can offer DPT services without a separate PSA licence (this is how DBS, OCBC and UOB participate in the digital asset market).

The PSA was followed in late 2022 and 2023 by formal MAS consultations on retail conduct (banning credit-card funded crypto purchases, banning retail incentives, restricting advertising), and in mid-2024 by the technical amendments needed to bring the SCS stablecoin framework into force.

The Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence

For most crypto firms reading this, the central licence in Singapore is the MPI for digital payment token services. Receiving the licence typically requires:

• A Singapore-incorporated entity with at least one local director, a permanent place of business and a Singapore-based compliance officer.
• Base capital of at least S$250,000.
• A safeguarding-of-assets regime — most commonly a statutory trust over customer DPTs and segregated reconciliations of fiat balances at MAS-licensed banks.
• A risk-management framework that satisfies MAS's Technology Risk Management Guidelines (the so-called TRMG, last updated 2021), Cybersecurity Notices, and Outsourcing Guidelines.
• A robust AML/CFT framework that meets MAS Notice PSN02 (the dedicated DPT AML notice), including travel-rule compliance for transfers above S$1,500 to non-hosted wallets.
• A "fit and proper" assessment of substantial shareholders, controllers, directors and key management.
• Demonstrated ability to file regulatory returns, conduct independent annual audits, and run continuous business-continuity testing.

In practice the application process takes 12-24 months from initial submission to full approval. Firms typically progress through three stages: pre-engagement, in-principle approval (IPA), and full licence grant. MAS frequently grants IPAs that subsequently lapse without conversion if the applicant cannot resolve outstanding control or capital concerns within a defined window — Genesis Singapore's IPA revocation in 2023 is the most prominent recent example.

Securities and Futures Act (SFA) for security tokens

If a token represents an investment contract, debenture, share, unit in a collective investment scheme, derivative or otherwise meets the definition of a "capital markets product", it falls within the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) — not the PSA. The SFA route is the one used by Sygnum Singapore, DBS Digital Exchange (the institutional digital exchange operated by DBS Bank) and ADDX, all of which hold a Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence covering dealing in capital markets products and a Recognised Market Operator (RMO) authorisation for the trading venue itself.

The MAS guidance "A Guide to Digital Token Offerings" (originally 2017, updated multiple times since) sets out how an ICO or token sale is assessed. The assessment is functional — MAS looks at the rights and obligations attached to the token, not its branding. Tokens that look like equity are equity; tokens that look like deposits are deposits; tokens that look like collective investment scheme units are CIS units. Each pathway implies different licensing, prospectus, custody and conduct rules under the SFA.

The 2023 stablecoin framework (SCS)

In August 2023 MAS finalised the world's first dedicated, comprehensive single-currency stablecoin (SCS) framework — beating the EU's MiCA stablecoin titles into operational force by months. The framework applies to non-bank stablecoin issuers in Singapore that issue SCS tokens pegged to either the Singapore dollar or any of the G10 currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, AUD, CAD, NZD, SEK, NOK).

Key requirements:

• 100% reserve backing in cash, cash equivalents and short-dated debt securities of the pegged currency, with daily mark-to-market reporting.
• Par-value redemption within five business days for retail holders.
• Monthly attestations by an independent auditor.
• Capital floor: greater of S$1m or 50% of annual operating expenses, plus a 1% reserve requirement.
• Disclosure of audit results, white paper, governance arrangements.
• The right to use the formal "MAS-regulated stablecoin" label — only granted to issuers that meet every criterion on a continuing basis.

The flagship participant is StraitsX, the digital-asset arm of Fazz, which issues XSGD (Singapore dollar) and XUSD (US dollar) stablecoins. DBS has signalled it will issue an MAS-regulated SGD stablecoin under the framework's bank issuer route. Internationally, Circle and Paxos have moved their MAS-licensed entities into compliance pathways for cross-border issuance.

The SCS framework set the global benchmark that the EU MiCA stablecoin titles (in force June 2024) and the US GENIUS Act (signed July 2025) would later resemble. MAS published the framework as part of a deliberate effort to make Singapore the credible global home for institutional, well-collateralised, fiat-pegged stablecoin issuance — an explicit alternative to the offshore Tether model.

Project Guardian — institutional DeFi at scale

Project Guardian is MAS's flagship institutional DeFi and asset-tokenisation programme, formally launched in May 2022. The premise is simple: most public DeFi protocols cannot meet the KYC, AML, capital and supervisory requirements of regulated financial institutions, so MAS sponsors a multi-firm pilot environment where banks can experiment with tokenised assets, atomic settlement, and programmable money on permissioned blockchain rails — without taking on retail customers or releasing public liquidity.

By April 2026 the project includes more than 40 banks, asset managers and infrastructure providers, organised into thematic working groups:

• Tokenised bonds — Standard Chartered, HSBC, DBS, Citi, BNY Mellon
• Tokenised funds and money-market vehicles — JPMorgan Onyx, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, BlackRock, Fidelity International, Schroders
• Tokenised FX — DBS, Standard Chartered, UBS
• Wholesale settlement & interoperability — Onyx, Partior, Fnality, the BIS Innovation Hub
• Trade finance — HSBC, Standard Chartered, BNP Paribas
• Sustainability — DBS, OCBC, UOB

Live pilots include atomic delivery-versus-payment of tokenised bonds against tokenised deposits, tokenised money-market fund subscriptions and redemptions, FX execution against tokenised SGD deposits, and cross-network atomic swaps using the Project Mariana cross-border CBDC infrastructure. The project's published reports — particularly the MAS Project Guardian Industry Report (2024) and the joint white paper with the BIS on multi-chain interoperability — are widely read as the canonical institutional-DeFi reference.

For comparison: no other regulator has assembled this depth of bank participation. The UK's Digital Securities Sandbox is large but narrower; the EU's DLT Pilot Regime is still slow on uptake; Hong Kong's Project Ensemble (its institutional-DeFi effort, launched 2024) is closely modelled on Guardian.

Project Orchid and the digital SGD

Project Orchid is the MAS programme exploring a Singapore dollar central bank digital currency (CBDC). It was launched in 2021 and has since produced a substantial body of work on purpose-bound money (PBM) — the idea that digital money can be programmed with conditions (expiry dates, eligible merchants, eligible categories) to support specific public-policy use cases like government disbursements, retail vouchers, education grants or sustainability incentives.

The pilots have included:

• A "PBM-tokenised SGD" voucher distributed during the 2022 SG Heritage Festival
• A tokenised-deposit pilot with DBS, OCBC, UOB and Standard Chartered
• A government-disbursement pilot allowing pre-funded purpose-bound transfers to citizens
• A wholesale-CBDC pilot for interbank settlement

As of April 2026 there is no decision on whether to launch a retail SGD CBDC. MAS has been explicit that a wholesale CBDC for institutional settlement is the higher near-term priority — partly because the wholesale leg interoperates with the Project Guardian and Project Mariana cross-border programmes.

The 14 firms with live MAS DPT licences

The list below summarises the firms with live MAS Major Payment Institution licences for digital payment token services as of April 2026. The full register is published on mas.gov.sg.

Beyond this core list, several international firms hold sub-licences, exemptions or sandbox authorisations: Bullish (institutional spot exchange), Bitstamp (post Robinhood acquisition), Gemini (limited), and several tokenised-asset platforms operating under the SFA route (ADDX, Marketnode, BondbloX).

Anti-money laundering and travel rule

Singapore's AML/CFT regime for crypto is set out primarily in MAS Notice PSN02 (DPT AML notice) and the Travel Rule provisions implemented in 2024. The headline rules:

• Identify and verify customer identity for any DPT transaction above S$1,500 (and conduct enhanced due diligence above S$20,000)
• Apply the FATF travel rule for cross-VASP transfers above S$1,500 — including beneficiary VASP identification, beneficiary name, account number / wallet address, and a confirmation that the beneficiary VASP is appropriately regulated
• Screen against UN, MAS and US OFAC sanctions lists and Singapore's domestic counter-terrorism designations
• File suspicious transaction reports to the Suspicious Transaction Reporting Office (STRO) within prescribed windows
• Maintain transaction records for at least five years

For unhosted wallet transfers there is no de minimis exemption — beneficiary self-attestation is required. MAS has been an active enforcer in this space, levying multi-million-dollar civil penalties on banks and PSPs that fell short of the standard.

Why Singapore? Six structural advantages

1. Regulatory clarity — A single regulator that publishes detailed consultations, runs a sandbox, and grants licences on objective criteria. No politicised SEC-style enforcement-first posture.
2. Tax efficiency — 17% headline corporate tax with substantial concessions for qualifying funds (under the 13O/13U schemes), no capital gains tax, and a network of more than 90 double-tax treaties.
3. Banking access — The big three local banks (DBS, OCBC, UOB) actively bank licensed crypto firms, ending the "debanking" problem that plagues US, UK and EU operators.
4. Talent — Native English-language administration, deep traditional-finance talent pool, and a substantial returnee community of Singaporeans trained in New York, London and Hong Kong.
5. Geography — Time-zone alignment with Asia, three-hour flights to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Mumbai, Sydney and Jakarta, and visa policies that make hiring international staff straightforward.
6. Political stability — Continuous one-party governance since 1965, low corruption indicators, and a credible commitment to financial-services growth as a national priority.

Singapore vs Hong Kong vs Dubai vs Tokyo vs Korea

Singapore's PSA was first to bring DPT services under a unified regulator. Hong Kong moved fastest on retail spot ETFs (six approved 30 April 2024) and on a stablecoin regime (HKMA stablecoin sandbox 2024, full regime 2025). Dubai's VARA grants the largest absolute number of licences but has variable rigour. Japan's FSA regime is the oldest — it was directly catalysed by the 2014 Mt Gox collapse — and remains the most conservative. South Korea's regime is heavily focused on KYC, AML and the won-only rule that bans unhosted-wallet deposits without identity verification.

For most institutional firms with global ambitions, the mix is "Singapore for the regulated stack + Dubai for speed + Hong Kong for retail spot products". Tokyo and Seoul are domestic plays primarily.

Recent enforcement: 3AC, Hodlnaut, Vauld, Genesis SG

The 2022 cycle ended several Singapore-headquartered crypto businesses and reshaped MAS's stance toward retail.

• Three Arrows Capital (3AC) — Founded in Singapore in 2012 by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, 3AC peaked at roughly $10B AUM. Following the Terra/Luna collapse in May 2022 and a series of leveraged ETH and GBTC trades, the fund defaulted on Voyager and Genesis loans. Liquidators were appointed in the British Virgin Islands on 27 June 2022. MAS subsequently reprimanded 3AC for prior breaches of fund-management rules. Su Zhu was detained in Singapore in 2023; Davies remained at large.
• Hodlnaut — A Singapore-based crypto lender, suspended withdrawals on 8 August 2022 after Terra exposure left a S$311m hole. Entered judicial management. MAS rejected its DPT licence application. Founders were charged in 2023 with cheating the company's investors.
• Vauld — Defi Payments Pte Ltd suspended withdrawals on 4 July 2022 and filed for moratorium protection; a proposed acquisition by Nexo was announced but ultimately fell through.
• Genesis Singapore — Genesis Asia Pacific Pte Ltd had its in-principle approval revoked in 2023 after the bankruptcy of its US parent Genesis Global Capital (Chapter 11 filed January 2023).

The collective impact on MAS policy was substantial. The regulator subsequently:

• Banned crypto firms from advertising DPT services to the Singapore retail public
• Banned the use of credit-card funds for retail crypto purchases
• Banned retail incentives, gifts, and influencer marketing
• Required customer-suitability assessments before retail onboarding
• Tightened the bar for in-principle approvals on DPT applications

The FTX-Singapore aftermath

FTX's collapse in November 2022 was particularly damaging in Singapore because Temasek — the Singapore sovereign-investment company — had invested approximately US$275m across two FTX rounds. The state's investment was eventually written off in November 2022. Temasek launched an internal review and in May 2023 publicly accepted that its due diligence had failed; the leadership of the FinTech investment team had its compensation reduced. There were no criminal proceedings against Temasek personnel.

FTX had no MAS licence. Its Singapore activities were limited to a marketing entity. MAS issued public statements clarifying that FTX was not a regulated firm in Singapore — but the political damage was done. Combined with the parallel collapses of Hodlnaut and Vauld, the FTX episode hardened the regulator's resolve on retail conduct rules and accelerated the SCS stablecoin framework consultation that culminated in the August 2023 publication.

How to apply for an MPI licence (step by step)

1. Pre-engagement — Have Singapore counsel approach the MAS FinTech & Innovation Group informally to socialise the business model. MAS strongly prefers applicants who have already engaged, often for months, before submitting Form 1.
2. Incorporate — Set up a Singapore Pte Ltd, appoint at least one Singapore-resident director, confirm office space and a Singapore-resident compliance officer. Open a corporate bank account.
3. Capital and compliance build-out — Deposit at least S$250,000 base capital. Engage external counsel and an independent IT-security auditor. Build the AML/CFT, technology risk and outsourcing policy stack.
4. Form 1 submission — Submit through the MASNET portal: business plan, owner-controller assessments, fit-and-proper questionnaires, technology risk programme, AML/CFT manual, business continuity plan, audited financials.
5. Q&A round(s) — MAS typically issues 100-300+ written questions over 6-12 months. Expect deep technical scrutiny of custody architecture, hot/cold separation, key management, and conflict-of-interest mitigation.
6. In-principle approval (IPA) — If MAS is satisfied, it grants an IPA conditional on completing remaining items (often hiring, IT audit, customer-asset trust deed, IT penetration testing, board governance).
7. Conversion to full licence — Within a defined window (typically 6-12 months) the applicant must satisfy the IPA conditions to receive a full MPI licence.
8. Ongoing supervision — Quarterly returns, annual independent audits, biennial IT reviews, ad hoc thematic reviews.

Total elapsed time: 12-24 months for the strongest applicants; 24-48 months for those who require multiple iterations.

Risks and criticism

Singapore's regulatory model is widely admired but not universally praised.

• Selectivity: MAS rejects most retail-focused applicants. Critics argue this leaves Singaporean retail users exposed to offshore platforms.
• Cost of compliance: The S$1-3m typical first-year compliance build-out is prohibitive for smaller native start-ups.
• Banking concentration: Although DBS, OCBC and UOB now bank licensed crypto firms, smaller domestic banks remain conservative.
• Innovation drag: Some argue the SCS framework's bank-grade reserve requirements are too restrictive for algorithmic or yield-bearing experiments.
• Pace: The 18-24 month average application timeline is slow relative to Dubai's three-month VARA process.

These criticisms are real but, on balance, are exactly what makes the Singapore licence so credible internationally. A firm that has obtained an MAS DPT MPI is signalling to global counterparties that it has cleared the highest non-US regulatory bar — and most institutional onboarding teams treat the MAS licence as a near-equivalent to a US trust charter or a New York DFS BitLicense.

The road to 2027

Looking ahead, three near-term threads will shape Singapore's crypto market:

1. More SCS stablecoin issuers: DBS's expected SGD stablecoin, possible OCBC and UOB entries, and one or two international issuers (Circle, Paxos) seeking the formal MAS-regulated label.
2. Tokenised funds and bonds at scale: Project Guardian moving from pilots to production, with measurable volumes by mid-2026.
3. Wholesale CBDC: Project Orchid wholesale-leg integration with Project Mariana cross-border infrastructure, and gradual operationalisation of tokenised central-bank money for institutional settlement.

A retail SGD CBDC is unlikely before 2027 absent compelling evidence that tokenised commercial-bank deposits cannot deliver the same outcomes.

Research and reports

The most useful primary documents for understanding MAS Singapore crypto licensing are:

• The MAS Payment Services Act consolidated text (Statutes of Singapore)
• The August 2023 MAS Stablecoin Framework press release and detailed paper
• The Project Guardian industry report and Project Mariana joint paper with the BIS Innovation Hub
• The MAS "Guide to Digital Token Offerings" (latest revision)
• MAS Notices PSN01, PSN02 (AML/CFT for DPTs), and TRMG (Technology Risk Management Guidelines)
• BIS Working Paper 1147 on tokenisation
• The a16z State of Crypto 2025 report's Asia section
• Chainalysis's "Crypto Adoption in APAC" 2025 report
• The IMF's Singapore Article IV consultations (2024 and 2025) which discuss the financial-stability implications of the digital-asset stack

Use cases / examples

• Coinbase Singapore uses its MPI licence to provide BTC, ETH, USDC and other DPT services to institutional and retail clients in Singapore and selected APAC jurisdictions, including USDC corporate treasury services.
• DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) offers tokenised securities, structured products and crypto trading to its accredited and institutional clients within the SFA wrapper — a pure bank-led on-ramp.
• StraitsX issues XSGD and XUSD as MAS-regulated stablecoins under the SCS framework, targeting cross-border merchant settlement, fintech treasury, and Web3 wallet integrations across Southeast Asia.
• Sygnum Singapore offers institutional digital-asset banking — staking, custody, lending, structured products — to family offices, hedge funds and corporates from its Singapore licensed entity.
• Hashkey Singapore offers institutional spot OTC and a custody product line aligned with its Hong Kong VATP exchange.

Comparison table — Singapore licences at a glance

FAQ

What is the MAS in Singapore?

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is Singapore's central bank and integrated financial regulator, formed in 1971. Unlike most countries that split monetary policy and financial supervision between separate agencies, MAS combines both functions plus financial development, insurance regulation, and payments oversight under a single roof. For crypto firms this matters because licensing, supervision, anti-money laundering enforcement and innovation sandboxes are all administered by one institution — making Singapore one of the most operationally efficient regulatory jurisdictions for digital asset businesses globally.

What is the Payment Services Act (PSA) in Singapore?

The Payment Services Act (PSA) is Singapore's foundational legislation for payment services, including digital payment tokens (DPTs). It came into force on 28 January 2020 and was substantially revised in April 2024. The Act creates three classes of licence — Money-Changing, Standard Payment Institution (SPI), and Major Payment Institution (MPI) — and brings exchanges, custodians, OTC desks and stablecoin issuers within the regulatory perimeter. Crypto firms typically pursue an MPI licence to provide DPT services without monthly transaction caps. The PSA sits alongside the Securities and Futures Act (SFA) which governs security tokens.

What is an MPI licence and how does it differ from SPI?

A Major Payment Institution (MPI) licence under the PSA allows the holder to provide payment services — including digital payment token (DPT) services — without the monthly transaction-volume caps that apply to a Standard Payment Institution (SPI). SPI is capped at S$3 million per month per service. MPI applicants must meet a higher base capital floor (typically S$250,000), maintain segregated customer assets, and demonstrate robust technology risk management. Most large crypto exchanges operating in Singapore — including Coinbase Singapore, Crypto.com, Independent Reserve, Sygnum, Hashkey, Anchorage, Paxos, Ripple, GSR and Circle — hold MPI licences for DPT services.

Which crypto firms hold MAS DPT licences in Singapore?

As of April 2026 the firms holding live MAS Major Payment Institution licences for digital payment token services include Coinbase Singapore, Crypto.com Singapore, Independent Reserve SG, DBS Vickers (for DBS Digital Exchange institutional access), Sygnum Singapore, Triple-A, Hashkey Singapore, Anchorage Digital Singapore, GSR Markets, Block.one, Paxos Singapore, Ripple Markets APAC, and Circle Internet Financial. The full list is published by MAS on its public licensing register and is updated as approvals are granted, suspended or revoked.

What is the MAS stablecoin framework?

In August 2023 MAS published the world's first comprehensive single-currency stablecoin regulatory framework. It applies to non-bank stablecoin issuers in Singapore that issue stablecoins pegged to the Singapore dollar or any G10 currency. Key requirements include 100% reserve backing in high-quality liquid assets, redemption at par within five business days, monthly attestations, capital floors, prudential governance, and a formal "MAS-regulated stablecoin" label. StraitsX's XSGD and XUSD were among the first to seek compliance; DBS has signalled it will issue its own MAS-regulated stablecoin under the framework.

What is Project Guardian?

Project Guardian is MAS's flagship industry collaboration on institutional DeFi and asset tokenisation, launched in 2022. It pilots tokenised asset markets — bonds, funds, FX, deposits — using permissioned blockchain rails with regulated counterparties. By April 2026 the project includes more than 40 financial institutions including JPMorgan Onyx, Apollo, Hamilton Lane, BNY Mellon, Standard Chartered, BlackRock, Fidelity International, DBS, Citi, HSBC and many others. Pilots cover tokenised money-market funds, FX execution against tokenised deposits, and trade finance. Project Guardian is widely cited as the leading public-private institutional DeFi pilot programme globally.

How does Singapore compare with Hong Kong, Dubai, Tokyo and Korea for crypto licensing?

Singapore is regarded as the gold standard for institutional clarity but accepts fewer firms than Dubai. Hong Kong relaunched a comprehensive Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) regime in June 2023 with mandatory licensing and HKMA stablecoin rules; HashKey, OSL and Crypto.com hold HK VATP licences. Dubai's VARA (operational since 2022) is the most liberal large hub, granting the highest absolute number of licences but with mixed rigour. Japan's FSA regime predates them all (April 2017) but is conservative. South Korea's VASP regime is heavily focused on KYC and AML with the Won-only rule. Singapore wins on regulatory clarity for tokenised institutional finance; Hong Kong wins on retail spot ETFs; Dubai wins on speed.

What happened to 3AC, Hodlnaut and Vauld in Singapore?

The 2022 collapses left a deep mark on Singapore's crypto reputation. Three Arrows Capital (3AC), founded in Singapore by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, filed for liquidation in the British Virgin Islands in late June 2022 after defaulting on Voyager and Genesis. Hodlnaut, a Singapore-based crypto lender, suspended withdrawals in August 2022 and entered judicial management; MAS subsequently rejected its application for a DPT licence. Vauld (Defi Payments Pte Ltd) filed for moratorium protection in July 2022. MAS responded by tightening retail access rules, banning advertising, and accelerating the stablecoin and PSA reform agenda. Genesis Singapore had its DPT licence in-principle approval revoked.

Why do crypto firms choose Singapore?

Singapore offers regulatory clarity, English common law, low corporate taxes (17% headline rate, with substantial concessions for qualifying funds), a large pool of native financial-services talent, deep banking relationships, political stability, time-zone alignment with the rest of Asia, and proximity to capital pools across Greater China, India and Southeast Asia. MAS is widely regarded as the most technically competent crypto regulator in the world by industry counsel, with a sandbox programme, dedicated FinTech & Innovation Group, and clear rule-making consultations. The trade-off is rigour — most applicants are rejected or take 18-24 months to receive a full MPI licence.

Is the Singapore dollar CBDC live?

Not for retail. MAS has run a multi-year pilot under Project Orchid exploring a "purpose-bound money" model for a Singapore dollar CBDC. The pilot has tested programmable government disbursements, retail vouchers, and tokenised deposits with DBS, OCBC, UOB and Standard Chartered as participating banks. As of April 2026 there is no decision on a retail launch; MAS has explicitly stated that a wholesale CBDC for institutional settlement is the higher near-term priority. The wholesale leg of Project Orchid is closely integrated with the BIS-led Project Mariana cross-border CBDC FX experiments.

Glossary

• MAS — Monetary Authority of Singapore, the integrated financial regulator and central bank.
• PSA — Payment Services Act 2019, the foundational statute for payments and digital payment tokens.
• DPT — Digital Payment Token. Singapore's regulatory term for crypto.
• MPI — Major Payment Institution licence under the PSA.
• SPI — Standard Payment Institution licence under the PSA, capped at S$3m per service per month.
• SCS — Single-Currency Stablecoin under the August 2023 MAS framework.
• SFA — Securities and Futures Act, governs security tokens and capital-markets products.
• CMS — Capital Markets Services licence, issued under the SFA.
• RMO — Recognised Market Operator, the trading-venue authorisation under the SFA.
• TRMG — Technology Risk Management Guidelines, MAS's prudential cyber and IT framework.
• PBM — Purpose-Bound Money, the programmable-money concept developed in Project Orchid.
• Project Guardian — MAS's institutional DeFi pilot programme.
• Project Orchid — MAS's CBDC and tokenised-deposit research programme.

Related reading (internal links)

• Stablecoins explained 2026 guide
• Real-world asset tokenization 2026 guide
• Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) 2026 guide
• Crypto exchanges comparison 2026
• DeFi exploits and hacks 2024-2026 recap
• Best crypto ETFs 2026 guide
• What is DeFi 2026 guide

Sources and further reading

• MAS website: https://www.mas.gov.sg/regulation/payments
• MAS published register of licensed firms: https://www.mas.gov.sg/regulation/payments/entities-that-have-notified-mas-pursuant-to-the-ps-esp-r
• Payment Services Act 2019 — Singapore Statutes Online: https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/PSA2019
• MAS stablecoin framework press release (15 August 2023): https://www.mas.gov.sg/news/media-releases/2023/mas-finalises-stablecoin-regulatory-framework
• Project Guardian programme page: https://www.mas.gov.sg/schemes-and-initiatives/project-guardian
• Project Orchid programme page: https://www.mas.gov.sg/schemes-and-initiatives/project-orchid
• Securities and Futures Act: https://www.mas.gov.sg/regulation/acts/securities-and-futures-act
• MAS AML/CFT page: https://www.mas.gov.sg/regulation/anti-money-laundering
• FATF virtual assets page: https://www.fatf-gafi.org/en/topics/virtual-assets.html
• BIS Working Paper 1147 on tokenisation: https://www.bis.org/publ/work1147.htm
• Coinbase Singapore MPI announcement: https://www.coinbase.com/blog/coinbase-singapore-mpi-licence
• DBS Digital Exchange: https://www.dbs.com/digital-exchange/index
• StraitsX product page: https://www.straitsx.com/sg/xsgd
• Sygnum Singapore: https://www.sygnum.com/singapore
• Anchorage Digital Singapore: https://www.anchorage.com/insights/anchorage-digital-singapore

About the author

DeFi Intel Research is a specialist crypto and digital-asset research desk focused on the regulated edge of the market — licensing, market microstructure, and institutional adoption. Our analyst team has 10+ years' combined experience covering the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Hong Kong SFC, the EU MiCA framework, and the US SEC/CFTC. We do not provide legal or investment advice. We publish research, education and data — and we cite our sources.

Last updated: 2026-04-26