On-shore VASP in Singapore

MAS licenses payment service providers, including DPT service providers, under the Payment Services Act 2019 (standard payment institution, major payment institution and money-changing licences), imposes AML/CFT requirements on DPT licensees through Notice PSN02, and requires DPT licensees to comply with Notice FSM-N13 on technology risk management from 6 November 2024.

The Payment Services Act 2019 (Act 2 of 2019) licenses digital payment token services through standard and major payment institution licences; it commenced on 28 January 2020, and Act 1 of 2021 widened its DPT scope with effect from 4 April 2024.

The Securities and Futures Act 2001 governs digital tokens that are capital markets products, and a person carrying on a regulated activity in such tokens must hold a capital markets services licence granted under section 86 unless exempt.

MAS Notice PSN02, issued 2 April 2024 under section 16 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 and in force from 4 April 2024, sets the AML/CFT requirements for Payment Services Act licensees providing a digital payment token service; its latest amendment, dated 30 June 2025, took effect on 1 July 2025.

MAS published its Technology Risk Management Guidelines (now listed as Guidelines on Risk Management Practices – Technology Risk) on 18 January 2021; they set non-binding technology risk principles for financial institutions, including payment institutions, covering technology risk governance, IT resilience, data and infrastructure security and cyber security operations.

Crypto service providers in Singapore are licensed under the Payment Services Act 2019; as of 14 October 2026 the MAS directory lists 38 major payment institutions for DPT services and no standard payment institutions. Base capital is S$250,000 for an MPI and S$100,000 for an SPI, which is capped at S$3 million monthly for one service or S$6 million for two or more.

Providing custodial services for digital payment tokens became a regulated DPT service under the Payment Services Act from 4 April 2024; regulations requiring DPT service providers to segregate customer assets in a trust account took effect six months later. All 38 DPT licensees in the MAS Financial Institutions Directory hold major payment institution licences, which require S$100,000 or S$200,000 security.

A crypto exchange serving Singapore customers is licensed as a digital payment token service under the Payment Services Act 2019; MAS's 17 January 2022 guidelines bar DPT marketing in public areas, including physical crypto ATMs, and its 23 November 2023 measures bar offering retail customers incentives to trade.

Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS): This is the central bank and integrated financial regulator of Singapore. MAS is the primary body responsible for regulating all digital asset and crypto-related activities, issuing licenses, and enforcing compliance with financial regulations.

The Payment Services Act 2019 is the main Singapore statute for cryptocurrency services; section 2(1) defines a digital payment token as a digital representation of value expressed as a unit, not denominated in or pegged by its issuer to any currency, and intended as a public medium of exchange.

Dealing in DPTs (e.g., buying and selling on behalf of customers).

Providing a platform that allows persons to exchange digital payment tokens is a regulated DPT service under the Payment Services Act 2019, and from 4 April 2024 facilitating the exchange of DPTs is regulated even where the provider does not come into possession of the moneys or DPTs.

Receiving or sending DPTs (e.g., cross-border DPT transfers).

Issuing a token is not one of the digital payment token services MAS lists under the Payment Services Act 2019; an offer or issue of digital tokens is regulated under the Securities and Futures Act where the tokens are capital markets products (MAS Guide to Digital Token Offerings, para 2.1).

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These notices lay out the specific Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (CFT) requirements for financial institutions, including DPT service providers.

Singapore applies the travel rule to DPT value transfers through MAS Notice PSN02 ¶13: transfers above S$1,500 must carry full originator information (¶13.6), and transfers at or below S$1,500 carry names plus account or reference numbers (¶13.4).

Under MAS Notice PSN02 ¶13, an ordering DPT service provider must identify the originator, include originator and beneficiary information with each value transfer, and must not execute or arrange the transfer if it cannot comply (¶13.11).

MAS Notice PSN02 ¶13 applies to all DPT value transfers: at or below S$1,500 the message must carry originator and beneficiary names and account or unique reference numbers (¶13.4); above S$1,500 the originator must also be verified and further originator information included (¶13.6).

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For DPT value transfers above S$1,500, MAS Notice PSN02 ¶13.6 requires the originator name and account or unique reference number plus any one of: residential or registered address, an identification or registration number, or date and place of birth or incorporation.

MAS Notice PSN02 ¶13.4(c)–(d) requires the beneficiary name and the beneficiary account number, or a unique transaction reference number where no account exists, to accompany every DPT value transfer.

MAS Notice PSN02 ¶13.9 requires all originator and beneficiary information collected by the ordering institution to be immediately and securely submitted to the beneficiary institution; where technical limitations stop the information travelling, the intermediary institution must keep it for at least five years (¶13.18).

The travel rule for Singapore DPT service providers is set out in MAS Notice PSN02 ¶13 (Value Transfers), in the version dated 2 April 2024 and last revised 30 June 2025.

The travel rule has bound Singapore DPT service providers since 28 January 2020, when MAS Notice PSN02 (dated 5 December 2019, value transfers at ¶13) took effect; the current notice applies to every Payment Services Act licensee carrying on a DPT service business (¶1.1).

Effective Date: January 28, 2020.

Threshold Amounts: Applies to virtual asset transfers ≥ S$1,500 (approximately US$1,000 equivalent), requiring VASPs to collect and share sender/recipient personally identifiable information (PII).

MAS Notice PSN02 applies to every Payment Services Act licensee providing a DPT service (¶1.1); the MAS Financial Institutions Directory listed 38 major payment institutions licensed for DPT service on 14 October 2026, and PSN02 ¶6.27 requires enhanced risk mitigation for transfers to or from entities that are not regulated financial institutions.

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Under IRAS's e-Tax Guide on digital tokens (30 January 2026), a gain on disposal of payment tokens is taxable income when the disposal is revenue in nature under the badges of trade, for example when the taxpayer is a trader in payment tokens (para 5.7, Annex A); a company that mines is regarded as carrying on a business of mining and is taxed on disposal of the mined tokens.

No capital gains tax applies to gains from selling or disposing of crypto held as a capital asset (e.g., long-term investments by individuals).

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From 1 January 2020, a token qualifying as a digital payment token for GST (expressed as a unit, fungible, not denominated in or pegged by its issuer to any currency, and a medium of exchange accepted by the public without substantial restrictions) is outside GST when used as payment, as a disregarded supply; exchanging it for fiat currency or other digital payment tokens, and lending it, are exempt supplies.