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🇸🇬 Singapore — Tier-1 Asia

Singapore — MAS DPT licence.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore's Digital Payment Token licence is Asia's premier crypto licence — required for exchanges, OTC, and custody services.

Timeline

9—12 mo

First filing to grant

Min. Capital

SGD 250K

MPI · SPI is 100K

Year-1 Cost

SGD 280—430K

Fully loaded · MPI

Regulator

MAS

Monetary Authority

01 — Is this right for you?

A considered route,
not a shortcut.

This jurisdiction rewards operators who treat the application as the start of a supervisory relationship.

A strong fit

When this is the right choice

Institutional-grade crypto operators

Exchanges, custodians, and OTC desks serving regulated counterparties, professional investors, or other licensed firms.

Operators needing tier-1 banking access

MAS-licensed entities access the deepest pool of Singapore-based correspondent and settlement banking relationships in Asia.

Firms with USD 5M+ regulatory budget

MAS demands real capital, real staff, real substance. If you have it, the brand-equity return on the licence is meaningful.

A poor fit

When to consider an alternative

Bootstrapped retail-only startups

If your monthly volume is under SGD 3M and you can't yet justify full Singapore substance, Labuan or Lithuania is the better starting point.

Operators in a hurry

MAS does not optimise for speed. Median path-to-grant is 9—12 months even with a clean dossier and responsive answers.

Anonymous or thin-shell structures

MAS scrutinises beneficial ownership in depth. Nominee directors and opaque trust structures will not survive review.

02 — Licence categories

Permissions under
one Act.

Choosing the right tier and scope is the most consequential decision in the application.

Standard Payment Institution (SPI)

For operators below SGD 3M monthly per service or SGD 6M total. Lower capital threshold (SGD 100,000), no security deposit, suitable for early-stage or limited-scope operators.

Major Payment Institution (MPI)

No volume cap — required at scale. Capital requirement SGD 250,000 plus security deposit of SGD 100,000—200,000. The licence most institutional operators ultimately need.

Digital Payment Token Services

The specific permission under PSA covering crypto exchange, OTC, custody, and brokerage activities. Granted as a category under either SPI or MPI.

03 — Path to grant

Phases to licence grant.

Pre-application

Weeks 1—8

We establish your Singapore Pte. Ltd., appoint a resident director and AML compliance officer, implement the AML/CFT framework to MAS Notice PSN02 standard, and inject the required minimum capital.

Submission & filing

Weeks 9—16

Complete dossier submitted to MAS — business plan, cybersecurity policy, risk management framework, UBO declarations, and audited financials. Quality of submission determines query volume.

MAS review & Q&A

Months 4—10

MAS conducts due diligence on the entity and key personnel. Multiple RFI rounds are standard. We manage every query response and maintain regulator dialogue throughout.

Licence grant

Months 10—12

Final approval and licence conditions reviewed. Operating licence issued. Ongoing supervision relationship with MAS begins — reporting, annual audit, and change-notification obligations activated.

04 — Year-one economics

Cost and regulatory
burden.

Year-one spend is dominated by substance — resident director, office, compliance officer, external audit — not the licence fee itself.

Cost item	Amount
Application fee	1,000 (SPI) / 1,500 (MPI)
Annual licence fee	5,000
Security deposit (MPI only)	100,000 — 200,000
Annual audit & compliance	30,000 — 80,000
Resident director & admin	50,000 — 150,000 / year
Year-1 total (SPI)	~80K — 230K

Singapore corporate tax: 17% on net profits. No capital gains tax on crypto trading. GST exemption on digital payment tokens since January 2020.

05 — Common questions

What founders
ask before filing.

The questions we get on every diagnostic call. If yours isn't here, raise it in the consultation.

SPI is for operators whose monthly transaction volume stays under SGD 3M per service or SGD 6M in total. MPI removes the volume cap and is required at scale. MPI carries SGD 250,000 minimum capital plus a SGD 100,000—200,000 security deposit; SPI requires SGD 100,000 capital and no deposit. Most institutional operators eventually graduate from SPI to MPI.

The applying entity must be a Singapore-incorporated private limited company. A foreign parent can fully own the Singapore entity, but the local company must have at least one Singapore-resident director, a real Singapore office, and locally hired staff — including an AML compliance officer.

MAS is the prestige route — higher capital, longer timeline (9—12 months versus 4—6 for Labuan), but materially stronger brand signal with institutional clients and access to Singapore's regulated banking system. Labuan is faster, cheaper, and more accessible but carries less institutional weight. Many SEA operators start with Labuan and graduate to MAS as they scale.

From April 2024, the amended Payment Services Act applies to service providers even where they don't directly hold customer crypto assets. Client-asset segregation became mandatory. Cybersecurity and operational risk requirements tightened materially. Cross-border digital-asset activity now falls in scope regardless of where the customer funds are received.

Licensees file regular activity and financial returns to MAS, maintain a Singapore office and resident staff, comply with AML/CFT policies, undergo annual external audits, and notify MAS of material changes to operations, control, or key personnel. MAS conducts ongoing supervisory reviews — being licensed is the start of a relationship, not the end of a project.

Ready when you are

Tell us where
you want to
operate.

Forty-five minutes with a partner. Jurisdiction memo within seven days. No retainer required to start.

Book a consultation Send us a brief

45 min

First call with a partner.
No retainer required.

Singapore — MAS DPT licence.

A considered route,not a shortcut.