Singapore Leads Asia in Crypto Licenses

Singapore is leading the race to become a crypto hub in Southeast Asia. In 2024, the country issued 13 different crypto licenses, more than double the number issued in the previous year.

With the latest approvals, Singapore outpaced Hong Kong’s licensing regime efforts, making it a more regulatory-friendly choice for various crypto operators and leading exchanges.

Singapore’s Latest Licensing Achievements

This year, Singapore licensed powerhouse exchanges OKX and Upbit and other firms like BitGo, GSR, and Anchorage. The city-state continues to advance its agenda to attract digital asset firms by offering flexible token listing and asset custody policies.

On Tuesday, Independent Reserve became the first cryptocurrency exchange in Singapore to list RLUSD, Ripple’s USD-backed stablecoin. This integration will likely improve the client experience for the exchange’s Singapore-based clients by enabling efficient cross-border liquidity solutions, resulting in faster and more cost-effective global transactions.

“Independent Reserve is proud to be the first regulated exchange in Singapore to offer secure and reliable access to RLUSD, staying true to our mission of leveraging crypto and blockchain technology to transform financial services,” said Lasanka Perera, CEO of Independent Reserve Singapore, in a press release.

Currently, users can buy and sell RLUSD using Singapore and US dollars. With this addition, Independent Reserve became the 10th crypto platform to offer Ripple’s stablecoin.