The Monetary Authority of Singapore issued a clarification: Cryptocurrency token merchants that only serve overseas customers must be licensed from 2025, otherwise they must stop related business

From June 30, 2025, all Singapore service providers (DTSPs) that only provide digital token-related services to overseas customers will be required to obtain a formal license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). MAS issued a notice today to clarify the scope of application of the new system, emphasizing that the move is aimed at strengthening anti-money laundering supervision and preventing regulatory arbitrage.

The notice pointed out that such service providers usually involve services such as the transfer or custody of digital payment tokens (such as stablecoins, Bitcoin) and capital market product tokens, and have high cross-border money laundering and terrorist financing risks. At the same time, since the service objects are mainly overseas customers in Singapore, MAS has limited regulatory authority and controllability over them, so it will force such institutions to operate with a license. Those who fail to obtain a license before the system takes effect must completely stop the relevant regulated activities.

MAS said that this regulatory stance is not sudden, and MAS has been communicating with the market and conveying policy directions since February 2022. According to the current data, there are only a very small number of DTSPs in the market that focus on serving overseas customers at this stage, and it is expected that the implementation of the policy will have limited impact on the local market as a whole.

It is worth noting that DTSPs that provide services to local customers in Singapore will not be affected by the new regulations. These companies are already regulated under the existing framework and can continue to provide services to local and overseas customers. At the same time, service providers related to utility tokens and governance tokens are also not included in the scope of this regulatory expansion.

MAS stated in a statement: "Our goal is to ensure the integrity of the financial system while maintaining Singapore's reputation as a responsible global crypto financial center." This policy reflects MAS's consistent prudent stance in maintaining financial stability and preventing systemic risks, and also conveys its emphasis on cross-border compliance of crypto assets to global regulators.