Singapore encryption purge, invisible players surface, the Asia-Pacific payment landscape presents a Rashomon.

"All business must cease by June 30, or face criminal penalties." This statement released by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on May 30 sent shockwaves through the Asian Web3 community.

Once hailed as the "crypto safe haven," Singapore now adopts a strict stance with zero transition period, demanding all unlicensed Digital Token Service Providers (DTSP) to withdraw completely. Sofas at home, shared desks, and temporary exhibition booths—these are all included in the broad definition of "operating premises" by the MAS. As long as one engages in digital token-related business within Singapore, regardless of whether the clients are domestic or international, a license is required to be compliant; otherwise, it constitutes a crime.

This article references first-hand observations from multiple local licensed institutions (including MetaComp, etc.) during the policy implementation process, combining regulatory texts and market feedback to rationally restore the policy logic, industry response, and future direction behind this large-scale cleanup. We believe that beyond regulation, it is more important to pay attention to a deep reconstruction of financial infrastructure and trust mechanisms.

01 Iron-Fisted Cleanup: A Complete Shift in Singapore's Regulatory Logic

The core of this regulatory storm is Section 137 of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSM Act). It marks the end of Singapore's history as a "regulatory arbitrage paradise." According to this provision, all individuals or institutions that have a place of business in Singapore and provide digital token services to overseas must obtain a DTSP license.

The core of the new regulations is the logic of "penetrative supervision", marking the official start of comprehensive regulation by MAS for local Web3 practitioners. MAS's definition of "digital token services" almost covers all aspects of cryptocurrency business: token issuance, custody services, brokerage trading, transfer payment services, verification, and governance services are all included under regulation.

No license? Only exit. MAS clearly stated: Those who do not hold a license by then must immediately stop overseas operations; the status of "pending application" will not be accepted as a basis for legal existence.

Why is Singapore so resolute? The core of the answer lies in the extreme defense of the country's "financial reputation." The FTX collapse in 2022 caused losses to Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek, leading to a serious blow to Singapore's financial reputation, which became a direct catalyst for tightening policies.

MAS has repeatedly emphasized in the document that digital token services have strong cross-border anonymity attributes, making them highly susceptible to illegal activities such as money laundering and terrorist financing. Once these Singapore-based companies "get into trouble", the country will face global public opinion and regulatory pressure.

02 The Battle for Survival: The Difficult Choices of Cryptocurrency Companies

With the introduction of the new regulations, Web3 practitioners in Singapore quickly divided into different camps.

The founder of a tokenized operation project admitted: "Regulation should serve companies with mature business models and clear structures, while for small teams, investing a large amount of time and resources to deal with regulation is almost an unbearable burden." The possibility of completely moving away from Singapore cannot be ruled out.

Applying for a DTSP license is no easy task. Companies must have an initial capital of 250,000 SGD, a resident compliance officer, an independent audit mechanism, and meet strict anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CFT) requirements, which is a significant barrier for startups.

However, local industry insiders who have lived in Singapore for many years hold a different view: "In fact, Singapore's regulatory policies in the Web3 field over the past few years have not undergone a drastic shift, but rather a clarification and refinement of the existing framework."

The regulatory focus of MAS is on digital payment tokens (DPTs) and tokens with capital market characteristics, while utility tokens and governance tokens are currently not at the core of its regulation.

Individual practitioners have become a regulatory gray area. A practitioner with many years of experience in OTC trading stated: "The current goal of MAS is actually to use this wave of regulations to sound an alarm for some not-so-standard KOLs and scattered groups."

Recently, some KOLs and exchange practitioners have chosen to pause their business, go traveling, or remain on the sidelines.

03 A Tale of Two Cities: The "War for Talent" Between Hong Kong and Dubai - Is There Really a "Paradise on Earth"?

When Singapore closed its doors, Hong Kong and Dubai almost simultaneously opened their arms.

After the new regulations were introduced in Singapore, Hong Kong Legislative Council members directly addressed on the social platform X: "If you are currently engaged in related industries in Singapore and intend to relocate your headquarters and personnel to Hong Kong, I am willing to provide assistance and welcome you to develop in Hong Kong!"

Hong Kong's appeal lies not only in its posture of attracting. On May 30, 2025, the same day new regulations were issued in Singapore, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region published the "Stablecoin Ordinance" in the Gazette, officially becoming the world's first jurisdiction to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for fiat-backed stablecoins.

The core innovation of the regulation lies in strict access, strong reserves, and guaranteed redemption: it requires issuers to apply for a license with a minimum registered capital of 25 million Hong Kong dollars; to implement a regulatory mechanism of "100% fiat currency reserves + independent custody + monthly audits"; and to ensure that users can redeem stablecoins at face value at any time.

At the same time, Dubai is attracting global attention in the crypto space like never before. The popular phrase at the TOKEN 2049 conference, "Habibi, Come to Dubai," has become a vivid representation of Dubai's competition for crypto talent.

Dubai offers businesses a highly competitive tax environment: companies with an annual income below 3 million UAE Dirhams (approximately 815,000 USD) are exempt from corporate income tax. Dubai has also established the world's first independent digital asset regulatory authority - the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA), dedicated to creating a coherent and progressive regulatory environment.

But just open your arms and shout intimate and warm words can you go directly without scruples, the author expresses serious doubts, a regulatory globalization trend is becoming more and more obvious, it is impossible for a certain region or country to be independent of the trend of globalization and the environment only enjoy dividends and not abide by the rules, if so, then the country or region will be automatically blocked by the globalization of supervision in the never-ending global capital operation, so no one dares to take the risk to undertake unconditionally; Second, whether it is Web3 or stablecoins, in essence, under the existing system dominated by sovereign financial regulation and sovereign credit currency, it has been pushed into the spotlight from silent passers-by all of a sudden, which is a normal way out and result for technological innovation applications to be absorbed. The "utopia" world exists, and maybe this "utopia" is the ultimate home that some people are fascinated by, sorry, not now, not now, not the "material" world of Crypto!!

04 Stablecoins and RWA: A Land of Opportunities in the New Regulatory Era - The Game of Swapping Cages

In this regulatory earthquake, stablecoins and the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) are becoming the most promising areas of development.

The stablecoin market is experiencing explosive growth. According to Deutsche Bank data, the total market value of stablecoins was about $20 billion in 2020, and by May 2025, it had surged to $249.7 billion, an increase of over 1100% in five years.

The activity of stablecoins in cross-border payment settlements is continuously increasing. Data shows that in the past 12 months, the settlement volume of stablecoins in cross-border payments reached $2.5 trillion, ten times that of 2020.

At the same time, RWA (Real World Asset Tokenization) is becoming the next trillion-dollar market. As of early June 2025, the total on-chain value of RWA is $23.1 billion (excluding stablecoins), an increase of over 110% compared to the previous year.

Globally, the dominance of digital currency "coinage rights" is becoming the focal point of competition among countries. In addition to Hong Kong, countries and regions such as the United States, the European Union, and Africa are also fiercely competing for the dominance of stablecoins.

The United States has introduced the "GENIUS Act", attempting to incorporate stablecoins into the national strategic framework to consolidate the dominance of the US dollar in the global monetary system; the European Union's "Crypto Assets Market Regulation Act" aims to redefine the digital financial order with a unified regulatory framework.

05 The Moat of License Holders: Strategic Advantages in the New Landscape - The Cost of Trust and Opportunities for Pioneers

In this regulatory turning point, institutions that can overcome high barriers and successfully obtain licenses are gradually building clear competitive barriers. According to the MAS official website, as of now, only 33 companies have obtained Digital Payment Token (DPT) licenses, including Coinbase, Circle, and MetaComp.

These institutions are no longer just service providers, but "whitelist" members of the new financial order who are the first to complete identity verification. MetaComp is one of them. As a large payment institution (MPI) authorized by MAS, MetaComp not only holds cross-border payment and DPT business licenses, but also builds a comprehensive compliance system covering payment, securities, custody, derivatives and other licenses with the support of its parent company, Alpha Ladder Finance.

This architecture includes:

• Large Payment Institution (MPI) license, covering digital token payment and cross-border payment services;

• RMO (Recognized Market Operator) qualification;

• Multiple CMS (Capital Markets Services) licenses, including securities trading, derivatives, collective investment schemes;

• Professional custody license, capable of servicing traditional capital market assets and asset tokens;

• As well as independent auditing, anti-money laundering (AML), and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) mechanisms.

The combination of these licenses allows them to not only legally provide stablecoin exchanges and digital asset clearing but also supports the compliant issuance of real-world asset (RWA) tokens, making it a highly scarce financial infrastructure platform in the new regulatory environment.

It is worth noting that this trend is not limited to Singapore. Looking globally, regulation is accelerating towards stablecoins and RWA. For example, the United States is launching the "GENIUS Act" in 2024, attempting to incorporate stablecoins into the national strategic framework to strengthen the global dominance of the dollar; the European Union has also passed the "Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation" (MiCA) to establish a unified regulatory framework. These signals collectively indicate that future digital financial participants will not only need advanced technology but also compliance as a priority.

In this context, compliance itself is becoming a "new scarce resource" with extremely high thresholds. MetaComp has established a cooperative network with globally licensed institutions and has built localized settlement infrastructure in regions such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa, and South America. By combining its self-developed StableX intelligent engine system, it achieves optimal routing and instant settlement between USD and stablecoins through AI and multi-coin path algorithms, providing efficient and low-cost solutions for global capital flow under compliance.

On the other hand, Alpha Ladder has been exploring RWA since 2021, launching projects such as carbon-neutral tokens and money market fund tokens, and establishing an end-to-end issuance platform that covers everything from structural design and legal compliance to custody and auditing, focusing on serving green finance, traditional securities, and cross-border asset tokenization.

These layouts are not market gimmicks, but strategic constructions based on rigorous compliance and years of practical experience. In the next decade, with the deepening of the GENIUS Act and regulatory measures in various countries, compliance capacity will become a watershed in the industry. Only those pioneers with pre-existing licenses, solid payment networks, and RWA issuance structures will have the opportunity to define rules and move steadily forward in the new round of global digital financial order.