Who Singapore suits
MAS says openly that it is not pursuing licensing at scale. Realistic chances belong to firms with an institutional model: transparent beneficial owners, experienced management with a financial services background, a conservative product. Retail speculative models are refused as a matter of course.
Requirements and procedure
- A local company, a resident executive director and an office.
- Capital by class of service; insurance or reserves against custody.
- Detailed treatment of technology risk: MAS conducts in-depth technical interviews, not just a documentary review.
- Restrictions on retail marketing: advertising crypto services to the general public in Singapore is effectively prohibited.
The procedure is a single application with no intermediate statuses; the typical review takes longer than VARA and is comparable to the slower EU regulators. Refusals are not reasoned in detail, and a second application only makes sense if the model has changed.
The practical conclusion
Going to Singapore for the badge is an expensive mistake: preparing an application to MAS standard costs as much as running the business does in simpler jurisdictions. It is worth it if your clients are banks, funds and corporates for whom a Singapore licence is the trust filter.
Frequently asked questions
How hard is it to get a MAS crypto license?
A minority of applications are approved and the process takes a year or more. The decisive factor is the institutional quality of the team and shareholders, not the size of the capital.
Can I serve Singapore clients without a MAS licence?
No — including from abroad, if the service is directed at the Singapore market: the regime's extraterritorial reach has been widened.
VASP licence calculator
Capital, fees and timelines across five jurisdictions — compared for your type of activity.