MAS-Licensed Crypto Banks

Singapore Payment Services Act 2019 — DPT and CMS authorisations. Retail-marketing restrictions in force since Nov 2023.

Verified May 2026 · 4 ranked DPT/CMS holders + 4 adjacent licensees

Reviewed by Stephan Kulik · Last updated: 2026-05-27 · How we rank

Short answer

Singapore's Payment Services Act 2019 brings crypto under MAS supervision via the Digital Payment Token (DPT) licence. Four operators in our reviewed roster hold MAS authorisations: Anchorage Digital (DPT, institutional), Hex Trust (DPT, institutional custody), Crypto.com (DPT, retail + institutional), and Sygnum Bank (CMS — broader than DPT). Since November 2023, MAS prohibits sign-up bonuses, retail credit for crypto purchases, and public DPT advertising to Singapore-resident retail customers. Crypto holdings are NOT covered by Singapore's deposit insurance scheme.

The MAS regulatory framework

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) regulates crypto-asset service providers under the Payment Services Act 2019, which entered into force in January 2020 and has been progressively tightened through 2024-2025. The Act introduced the Digital Payment Token (DPT) licence class — covering custody, trading, transmission, and brokerage of crypto-assets for Singapore-resident customers.

MAS also issues Capital Markets Services (CMS) licences (broader, covering tokenised securities + fund management + corporate finance) and the older Major Payment Institution (MPI) class for fiat-payment services. Sygnum holds a CMS licence which covers more than the DPT class; the other operators in our roster hold DPT specifically.

The 2023 retail-protection measures

In November 2023, after a consultation paper opened in October 2022, MAS finalised six consumer-protection measures applicable to DPT-licence holders serving Singapore retail customers:

No incentives — sign-up bonuses, referral rewards, free-crypto promos, deposit-matching incentives are prohibited for retail customers.
No credit — DPT operators may not extend credit, margin, or leverage to retail customers for crypto purchases. No buy-now-pay-later, no credit-card buying enabled by the operator.
No public marketing — DPT services may not be advertised in public spaces (transit, billboards, mass-broadcast). Marketing is permitted only on the operator's own website + customer-direct notifications.
Customer-suitability assessment — before opening a retail DPT account, the operator must assess the customer's understanding of crypto risk. Operators implement this as an in-flow questionnaire.
No incentives via third parties — affiliates and influencers cannot offer Singapore-resident incentives that the operator could not offer directly.
Customer asset segregation — already required by the Act, reaffirmed: customer DPTs and customer fiat must be segregated from operator balance-sheet assets.

Institutional and accredited-investor customers (≥ SGD 1 million net financial assets OR ≥ SGD 300,000 income, with specific MAS criteria) are exempt from these retail measures.

The ranked MAS-licensed crypto banks

Anchorage Digital — MAS DPT (Singapore) + US OCC NTBC charter + FinCEN MSB. Institutional custody focus. Score 8.5/10. The strongest combined US + Singapore regulatory footprint for institutional customers.
Hex Trust — MAS DPT + Hong Kong SFC Type 1 + Type 7 + VARA Dubai + ADGM + Bermuda. Score 7.8/10. The broadest Asia regulatory footprint among institutional custodians. Singapore is one of multiple jurisdictions, not the primary HQ.
Crypto.com — MAS DPT (Singapore) + FCA registered + multiple other jurisdictions. Score 6.7/10. Retail + institutional; Singapore retail activity now operates under the post-2023 restrictions.
Sygnum Bank — MAS Capital Markets Services licence (broader than DPT) + Swiss FINMA banking licence + Luxembourg MiCA CASP. Score 5.9/10. The CMS licence covers wealth-management activity to Asian institutional + HNW customers from the Singapore branch.

Other MAS-licensed operators (off-roster)

Coinbase Singapore — DPT. Post-2023 has pivoted to institutional / accredited-investor focus for Singapore residents. Retail offering remains via the global Coinbase entity which carries different regulatory status.
Independent Reserve — Australian-founded DPT holder operating from Singapore. Strong reputation in the AU-SG corridor.
DBS Digital Exchange (DDEx) — Singapore Exchange (SGX)-recognised plus MAS Capital Markets Services. Operates as the digital-asset exchange for institutional and accredited investors under DBS Bank's existing banking framework. NOT a DPT licence specifically; a different regulatory category.
Binance — operates under a now-discontinued exemption regime ("MAS exempt"). Does NOT hold an active DPT licence. Avoid treating its Singapore footprint as equivalent to a DPT holder.

How MAS compares to MiCA and FINMA

For a customer comparing regulatory regimes:

FINMA bank licence (Sygnum, AMINA) — highest tier: full bank prudential supervision, fiat deposit guarantee, statutory crypto segregation. Swiss-domestic; needs separate EU passporting for EU customers.
MAS DPT — service-provider authorisation with strict retail-marketing restrictions (Nov 2023). No deposit guarantee. Customer asset segregation required. Singapore-domestic; cross-border use is via the specific operator's other jurisdictions.
MiCA CASP — EU-wide service-provider authorisation. Passportable across 27 EU/EEA states. Lower capital requirements than MAS DPT in most service categories. No retail-marketing prohibitions equivalent to MAS's Nov 2023 measures.

How to verify a MAS licence

MAS publishes the Financial Institutions Directory at eservices.mas.gov.sg/fid. Search by entity name; the directory shows licence type, issue date, and current status. The "Payment Services Act 2019" filter narrows results to DPT and related licences. Treat the MAS directory as the source of truth — operator marketing sometimes describes an exemption or in-principle approval (IPA) as if it were a full licence. An IPA is conditional; verify it has converted to a full licence before relying on it.

Japan + Hong Kong + Dubai adjacency

Several MAS-licensed operators ALSO hold:

Hong Kong SFC Type 1 + Type 7 (Hex Trust)
Dubai VARA broker-dealer + custody (Hex Trust, Anchorage, Crypto.com)
Abu Dhabi ADGM (Hex Trust)
Japan FSA registration (Crypto.com)

For institutional customers requiring a multi-jurisdiction custody footprint, the combined MAS + SFC + VARA holders are the strongest options. For Japan-resident retail customers see the FSA-registered exchanges (separately reviewed); MAS licensing does not substitute for FSA registration in Japan.

Where to read further

See our full crypto-banks ranking, Anchorage review, Hex Trust review, and Crypto Taxes Japan for regional tax context.

Disclaimer

This page is general information, not financial advice. MAS guidance evolves; verify directly on the MAS Financial Institutions Directory before making deposit decisions. See terms.

Frequently asked questions

What is a MAS DPT licence? +

A Digital Payment Token (DPT) licence under Singapore's Payment Services Act 2019 authorises the holder to provide custody, trading, or transmission of crypto assets to Singapore-resident customers. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) administers the licence; applicants undergo a fit-and-proper assessment, demonstrate operational capability and capital adequacy, and submit to ongoing supervision including AML/CFT requirements aligned with FATF recommendations. The DPT class is distinct from MAS's Capital Markets Services (CMS) licence (which Sygnum holds) and the older Singapore Exchange (SGX) frameworks.

What did MAS change in November 2023? +

In November 2023 MAS finalised retail-DPT consumer-protection measures that have reshaped how MAS-licensed operators market to Singapore residents. The key restrictions: no offering of incentives (sign-up bonuses, referral payouts, free crypto) to retail customers; no credit facilities to retail customers for crypto purchases (no buy-now-pay-later for crypto, no credit-card buying); no public advertising of DPT services to retail customers (only marketing on the operator's own website + customer notifications); customer-suitability assessments before retail customers can transact. Institutional and accredited-investor customers are exempt. The result: MAS-licensed operators have substantially toned down their Singapore retail marketing while continuing institutional + cross-border activity.

Which crypto banks actually hold a MAS DPT licence? +

As of 2026 the major DPT-licensed operators include: Coinbase Singapore (DPT — institutional/accredited focus post-2023), Crypto.com Singapore (DPT), Sygnum Bank (Capital Markets Services licence — broader than DPT), Anchorage Digital Singapore (DPT — institutional custody), Hex Trust (DPT — institutional custody), Independent Reserve, DBS Vickers (DBS Digital Exchange — DPT subset). Binance is "MAS exempt" (operating under a now-discontinued exemption regime); it does NOT hold an active DPT licence. Verify current status on MAS's public Financial Institutions Directory.

Does MAS licensing provide deposit insurance? +

No. Singapore's Deposit Insurance Scheme (administered by SDIC) covers fiat deposits at MAS-licensed full banks up to SGD 100,000 per depositor per scheme member, but it does NOT cover DPT-licence holders or crypto holdings. MAS DPT licensing requires segregation of customer assets but does not create a payout scheme. For combined deposit-guarantee + crypto-licensing coverage, the strongest model is a Swiss FINMA-licensed bank with crypto authorisation (Sygnum, AMINA) for fiat + crypto, or a US OCC NTBC-chartered bank (Anchorage) for institutional fiat + crypto.

How does MAS DPT compare to MiCA and FINMA? +

MAS DPT is service-provider licensing, similar in regulatory class to a MiCA CASP authorisation — both authorise crypto-asset service activity without requiring a full bank licence. MAS DPT has somewhat stricter capital requirements than MiCA CASP and substantially stricter retail-marketing restrictions (the November 2023 measures have no MiCA equivalent). FINMA banking licensing is one tier above both: full prudential supervision, deposit insurance on fiat, statutory crypto segregation. A platform holding all three (Sygnum currently does: FINMA bank + Luxembourg MiCA CASP + Singapore CMS) gets the strongest combined regulatory footprint.

Are MAS-licensed crypto banks available to non-Singapore customers? +

Most are designed primarily for institutional cross-border use. Anchorage Digital and Hex Trust serve global institutional customers from their Singapore entities; their DPT licences cover Singapore-resident customer activity specifically. Crypto.com serves global retail through its various national entities; the MAS DPT licence covers its Singapore retail and institutional activity. Sygnum's Singapore CMS licence covers wealth-management activity for the Asia region. Retail customers outside Singapore should check whether they're being served under the MAS-licensed entity or under a different (often weaker-regulation) entity in their home jurisdiction.