Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange located in the United States, is growing its operations in Singapore after receiving crucial regulatory approval from the country’s central bank.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted Coinbase a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license, the company announced on October 1. The new license, which comes one year after Coinbase’s initial in-principle approval in Singapore, enables the business to increase the availability of its digital payment token services to local residents and organizations.
MAS states that MPI-licensed businesses are permitted to conduct payment services without being constrained by transaction limitations of 3 million Singapore dollars ($2.2 million) for any payment service. The approved businesses are also exempt from the 6 million Singapore Dollar ($4.4 million) per month limit on transactions for two or more payment services, excluding those for creating electronic money accounts and exchanging currency.
The company stated in the release that the recently gained license is “not only a validation of Coinbase’s operations” but also a commitment to Singapore’s expanding Web3 and cryptocurrency communities.
In order to launch PayNow and FAST bank transfers in March 2023, Coinbase has been aggressively creating goods and services tailored especially for Singapore. To make onboarding simpler, Coinbase has integrated SingPass, Singapore’s digital identity service. Additionally, to extend its products like Base blockchain and wallet-as-a-service, Coinbase has been working with significant local blockchain companies like Nansen.ai, Blockdaemon, and Infura.
The exchange said, since their first involvement in the Lion City, they have determined that Singapore is a crucial market for Coinbase, highlighting the fact that its most recent poll revealed that more than 30% of Singaporeans are either present or previous owners of cryptocurrencies. The statement also stated:
Naturally, Singapore has grown to be a prominent hub for this sector. A key market for the expansion of the crypto and Web3 economies, Singapore is also home to over 700 Web3 businesses.
Major international cryptocurrency companies have, as was previously reported, started obtaining Singapore’s MPI license more and more recently. Blockchain.com, a distributor of cryptocurrency data and wallets, was authorized as the 12th company in August 2023. Following cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com, Circle, the creator of the USD Coin stablecoin, was granted an MPI license in June 2023.
