Gemini’s local entity is authorized to provide digital payment token and cross-border money transfer services without standard transaction-volume limits. Crypto exchange Gemini has received a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), completing its transition from in-principle approval granted nearly two years ago. On Wednesday, Gemini said the license was awarded to Gemini Digital Payments Singapore, its local entity. The MAS Financial Institutions Directory lists the company as authorized to provide digital payment token services and cross-border money transfers. MPI license holders can provide regulated payment services without being subject to the transaction-volume limits imposed on standard payment institutions. However, MAS said major payment institutions face more comprehensive regulation because their operations’ scale poses greater risks. Read more
Singapore is considering allowing jointly issued cross-border stablecoins into its regulatory regime, revisiting its earlier decision to restrict the framework to domestic issuance. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is reconsidering its earlier restriction on stablecoins issued across multiple jurisdictions, proposing a route for some jointly issued tokens to qualify under its regulatory framework. MAS opened a public consultation on Tuesday, covering legislative amendments to implement its stablecoin framework and additional policy proposals reflecting developments since 2023. Under one proposal, stablecoins jointly issued by a Singapore issuer and a foreign issuer could be regulated under the framework and labeled “MAS-regulated stablecoins,” provided that the associated risks are sufficiently mitigated. Read more
Amid a $473 million legal dispute, RedotPay says it expects Binance to end its Singapore case, while Binance says its claims remain active. Binance and RedotPay are disputing whether a Singapore case related to their nearly $473 million Hong Kong legal battle is coming to an end. The stablecoin payments card issuer told Cointelegraph on Tuesday that it expects Binance to discontinue the Singapore proceedings following a hearing on Aug. 7. “RedotPay will be seeking legal costs arising from the discontinuance of the matter from the claimant,” a spokesperson for RedotPay said, adding that the parties would try to agree on costs. However, Binance said it has no plans to abandon its claims. “Reports that Binance will be withdrawing its Singapore claims are false,” a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph, adding that the company “is not abandoning its claims and has informed both the court and RedotPay accordingly.” Read more
Coinbase plans to expand its Singapore office from 150 to about 200 employees by the end of 2026 as it expands its presence in the Lion City. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase reportedly plans to expand its presence in Singapore and grow its headcount from 150 to about 200 staff members by the end of 2026. The cryptocurrency exchange is mainly looking to hire more engineers, customer service, relationship management staff and institutional sales representatives for its Singapore office, which opened at One Raffles Quay on Wednesday, Hassan Ahmed, Coinbase’s country director for Singapore, told the Business Times in an interview. Ahmed said that Singapore is increasingly becoming a strategic hub for cryptocurrency innovation. Coinbase received a major payment institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s central bank, in October 2023, enabling it to expand its services to Singaporean individuals and institutions. Read more
MAS found deficiencies in Bsquared’s risk management and conflict-of-interest policies, and that the firm had provided false or misleading information to the regulator on multiple occasions. Singapore’s central bank has pulled the crypto payment license of Bsquared Technology Pte. Ltd., stripping the firm of its right to provide digital payment token services after uncovering a series of breaches. In a Wednesday announcement, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it revoked Bsquared’s Major Payment Institution Licence after an on-site inspection found weaknesses in the company’s risk management practices and conflict-of-interest policies, as well as failures to comply with the regulator’s outsourcing guidelines. MAS said Bsquared provided false or misleading information on multiple occasions, from its initial license application through the inspection itself. Read more
OpenAI is opening its first overseas applied AI lab in Singapore through a $234 million partnership expected to create more than 200 technical roles. OpenAI is opening its first applied AI lab outside the US in Singapore through a multiyear partnership with the Ministry of Digital Development and Information, backed by more than $234 million. The AI company said Tuesday that the new lab will add more than 200 technical roles over the next few years, making Singapore one of OpenAI’s global hubs for Forward Deployed Engineers (FDE), or technical specialists who work directly with organizations to implement AI systems. “Through OpenAI for Singapore, we want to help more organisations benefit from frontier AI, support the next generation of local AI talent, and widen access to these tools across the country,” Denise Dresser, the company's chief revenue officer, said. Read more
Approximately 49,000 workers were laid off in 2026 as companies adopted a more AI-reliant business model. Meta has reportedly begun cutting staff in Singapore as the company executes a plan to reduce employee numbers by 8,000 to lean more heavily on AI. Emails were sent out at 4 a.m. Singapore time to affected employees, and staff in the US and Europe were also expected to be notified that morning, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Meta’s engineering and product teams are expected to be hit hardest. Meta is one of several Big Tech firms cutting staff while investing heavily in AI infrastructure in an effort to streamline operations and reduce costs. An estimated 49,135 layoffs have occurred at US companies in 2026 as a result of AI integration. Read more
A Singapore court ordered OneKey founder Wang Lei and an X user to stop threatening or defamatory claims tied to a dispute over the 2025 Resupply exploit. A Singapore court has ordered two crypto industry figures to stop making threatening or defamatory statements against a Curve-linked contributor following a dispute tied to a 2025 decentralized finance exploit. In a March 24 order seen by Cointelegraph, Singapore’s Protection from Harassment Court prohibited crypto wallet OneKey’s founder Wang Lei and the user behind the X account “web3feng” on X from posting statements alleging fraud or spreading false information about the claimant, identified in court documents as the pseudonymous Curve contributor known as “Haowi Wong” on X. The development follows online accusations that emerged after the June 2025 exploit of stablecoin protocol Resupply, which resulted in about $9.6 million in losses. Those accusations ended up in formal legal action being taken. Read more
Ripple joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s BLOOM initiative with Unloq to test RLUSD and XRPL for programmable cross-border trade settlement in Singapore. Financial technology company Ripple said Wednesday it had joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) BLOOM initiative with supply chain finance technology firm Unloq to test programmable cross-border trade settlement using the XRP Ledger and Ripple USD. The pilot will use Unloq’s SC+ smart-contract-driven trade finance infrastructure, which integrates trade obligations, settlement conditions and financing workflow into a single execution layer. The pilot will also utilize Ripple’s XRP Ledger (XRPL) and its stablecoin designed for enterprise use cases, Ripple USD (RLUSD), the announcement states. MAS launched BLOOM, short for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, in October 2025 to extend settlement capabilities using tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins. Read more
Japan’s SBI Holdings has signed a letter of intent to buy a controlling stake in Singapore-licensed crypto exchange Coinhako. Japanese financial conglomerate SBI Holdings is moving to deepen its presence in the crypto sector, announcing plans to take a controlling position in Singapore-based exchange Coinhako. In a Friday announcement, the Tokyo-listed firm said its wholly owned subsidiary, SBI Ventures Asset, has signed a letter of intent with Coinhako’s parent company, Holdbuild, to inject capital into the business and purchase shares from existing investors. If completed, the transaction would give SBI Holdings a majority stake and make Coinhako a consolidated subsidiary, subject to regulatory approval. “Bringing Coinhako into the SBI Group as a consolidated subsidiary is not merely an investment in a single platform,” chairman and CEO Yoshitaka Kitao said, describing the acquisition as part of a broader effort to build international infrastructure for digital assets, including tokenized securities and sta...
Singapore’s MAS has widened Ripple’s MPI license scope, enabling regulated token services, end-to-end payments and major growth across Asia-Pacific. MAS has expanded Ripple’s MPI license, allowing the company to offer a much wider range of regulated payment services and marking a notable regulatory milestone for the company’s operations in Singapore. Ripple first secured a full MPI license in 2023, enabling digital payment token services but limiting comprehensive end-to-end payment capabilities until the restrictions were removed in the 2025 expansion. The upgraded license now permits full cross-border payment processing, regulated XRP and RLUSD services, liquidity solutions, on/off-ramps and enterprise-grade settlement tools under Singapore’s strict oversight. Read more
Survey data points to cautious allocations, long-term holding and a preference for regulated platforms as Singapore’s retail market continues to mature. Singapore’s retail crypto market is entering a new phase of maturity, as traders are increasingly prioritizing trustworthy platforms over those with lower fees, according to a new survey. On Thursday, a joint survey by finance platform MoneyHero and crypto exchange Coinbase revealed that 61% of “finance-savvy” investors in Singapore now hold crypto, with trust emerging as their primary deciding factor for selecting exchanges, outranking fees. The data suggests that the city-state’s crypto ecosystem is evolving beyond chasing the cheapest exchange to placing value on regulated frameworks, security and long-term conviction. Read more