Singapore Includes Cryptocurrency in New Payments Regulations
- The new Payment Services Bill aims to foster innovation and reduce risk in the payment cycle.

Singapore’s financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), announced on Monday that it would be issuing a series of new regulations governing Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. Read this Term. The regulator says that the new regulations are designed to help foster innovation and reduce risks across the payments chain.
“The Payment Services Bill,” said MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon, “will enhance the regulatory framework for payment services in Singapore, strengthen consumer protection and engender confidence in the use of e-payments.”
Singapore - Regulating Crypto Payments?
One of these will be designed to regulate what the MAS defines as "systemically important payment systems." The regulator says that rules governing these systems are designed to improve stability and efficiency.
The other framework is focused on retail payment service providers (PSPs). What the regulator aims to do in this regard is less clear, but one would assume the new rules fit in with the broader goal of boosting innovation and reducing risk.
More importantly, retail payment service providers will have to get a license to provide services to merchants and customers. A broader range of firms, including those that enable domestic money transfers, merchant acquisition and the sale of cryptocurrencies, will now be required to get a PSP license from the MAS.
Those PSPs will only have to get one payments license. The type of license they will be required to get will be dependent on the scale of the risk posed by the firm. Industry and firm-specific risk mitigating measures will also be tailored to PSPs applying for a license from the MAS.
“[The new rules] illustrate,” continued Menon, “our shift towards regulation that is modular, activity-based and facilitative of growth and development in the Singapore payments landscape.”
Singapore’s financial regulator, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), announced on Monday that it would be issuing a series of new regulations governing Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonly the basis of exchange involves fiat currency or legal tender, be it in the form of cash, credit or bank transfers, debit, or checks. While typically associated with cash transfers, payments can also be made in anything of perceived value, be it stock or bartering – though this is far more limited today than it has been in the past.The Largest Players in the Payments IndustryFor most individuals, the payments industry is dominated currently by card companies such as Visa or Mastercard, which facilitate the use of credit or debit expenditures. More recently, this industry has seen the rise of Peer-to-Peer (P2P) payments services, which have gained tremendous traction in Europe, the United States, and Asia, among other continents.One of the biggest parameters for payments is timing, which looms as a crucial element for execution. By this metric, consumer demand incentivizes technology that prioritizes the fastest payment execution.This can help explain the preference for debit and credit payments overtaking check or money orders, which in previous decades were much more commonly utilized. A multi-billion-dollar industry, the payments space has seen some of the most innovation and advances in recent years as companies look to push contactless technology with faster execution times. Read this Term. The regulator says that the new regulations are designed to help foster innovation and reduce risks across the payments chain.
“The Payment Services Bill,” said MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon, “will enhance the regulatory framework for payment services in Singapore, strengthen consumer protection and engender confidence in the use of e-payments.”
Singapore - Regulating Crypto Payments?
One of these will be designed to regulate what the MAS defines as "systemically important payment systems." The regulator says that rules governing these systems are designed to improve stability and efficiency.
The other framework is focused on retail payment service providers (PSPs). What the regulator aims to do in this regard is less clear, but one would assume the new rules fit in with the broader goal of boosting innovation and reducing risk.
More importantly, retail payment service providers will have to get a license to provide services to merchants and customers. A broader range of firms, including those that enable domestic money transfers, merchant acquisition and the sale of cryptocurrencies, will now be required to get a PSP license from the MAS.
Those PSPs will only have to get one payments license. The type of license they will be required to get will be dependent on the scale of the risk posed by the firm. Industry and firm-specific risk mitigating measures will also be tailored to PSPs applying for a license from the MAS.
“[The new rules] illustrate,” continued Menon, “our shift towards regulation that is modular, activity-based and facilitative of growth and development in the Singapore payments landscape.”