Leaving the Lion City:
Singapore has long styled itself as the Switzerland of the digital-asset age—a place where global capital mingles with cutting-edge code, framed by glassy towers and rigorous law. But the city-state’s latest ultimatum to unlicensed crypto exchanges has sent two of the market’s biggest names, Bitget and Bybit, scrambling for the exits—and the message is reverberating across an industry once drawn to Singapore’s laissez-faire charm.
At first glance the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s “final warning” sounds procedural: operate under a full licence or shut up shop. In practice, it redraws the region’s crypto map. Bitget, a top-ten exchange by trading volume, is already redeploying staff to Dubai and Hong Kong, both of which now compete fiercely for digital-asset bragging rights. Bybit is weighing a similar retreat. Between them and a clutch of smaller offshore platforms, hundreds of highly paid sales, compliance and product roles could evaporate overnight—an unenviable outcome for a country that prides itself on fintech prowess.
A Crisis of Confidence
Singapore’s crypto promise was forged in the boom years of 2020-21, when decentralised finance appeared unstoppable and venture capitalists clogged airport lounges en route to Marina Bay. The city provided clean regulation through the Payment Services Act yet left ample room for experimentation. Then came the bust. A string of collapses—TerraUSD’s implosion, the Singapore-based hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, then an ugly local bankruptcy at lender Hodlnaut—burned investors and embarrassed policymakers. By late-2023 regulators tightened advertising rules and boxed retail traders into “knowledge tests” before they could buy bitcoin. This year’s edict caps that pivot from permissive host to stern gatekeeper.
Why the Exit Hurts
Unlike Binance, which pulled its flagship platform out of Singapore in 2021, Bitget and Bybit embedded themselves in the local scene. They hired aggressively, sponsored Formula One events, and courted family offices managing Southeast Asia’s old money. That physical presence now adds political friction to any departure. Real-estate leases must be broken, cloud servers migrated, and customer support centres—often staffed by Singaporeans—shifted offshore. According to venture investor Arthur Cheong, the cull could run into the “low hundreds” of jobs, a non-trivial figure in a nation of only 3.7 million citizens.
Dubai and Hong Kong: Open Arms, Different Risks
Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority courts exchanges with crisp, business-friendly rules, zero taxes on profits, and a time-zone overlap with both Europe and Asia. Yet critics warn the emirate’s reputational tolerance for risk may invite the very excesses Singapore seeks to avoid. Hong Kong, meanwhile, has emerged from Beijing’s regulatory shadow with a bespoke licensing regime of its own, eager to resurrect its role as Asia’s financial nerve-centre. Moving there is politically easier for Chinese-led exchanges, but it also exposes them to shifting mainland sentiment toward digital assets.
What Remains of Singapore’s Crypto Dream?
The lion city is not abandoning crypto so much as trimming its sails. Major players that already hold licences—Coinbase, Crypto.com, Ripple—continue building local teams. Start-ups working on blockchain payments or tokenised real-world assets still praise MAS for clarity and speed. The difference is philosophical: Singapore now demands that firms match its obsession with prudence, capital buffers, and consumer safeguards. For companies that prize fast listings and cross-border volume above all, that bar is suddenly too high.
The Bigger Lesson
If Singapore’s salvo feels abrupt, it may merely foreshadow global convergence. From the European Union’s MiCA framework to America’s yet-uncertain stable-coin rules, regulators everywhere are squeezing the middle ground in which many exchanges thrive—big enough to court retail traders, small enough to dodge full scrutiny. Bitget and Bybit’s retreat underscores a brutal calculus: without a licence, even the most vibrant tech hub can turn inhospitable overnight.
Whether Singapore’s hardline stance cements its credibility or scares away vital innovation will depend on how deftly it balances caution with ambition. For now, the city-state keeps its crown as a global financial centre; it just no longer offers carte blanche to crypto’s most free-wheeling empires. And for hundreds of coders, analysts and community managers suddenly polishing their CVs, the promised land now lies a seven-hour flight to the west—or a quick hop across the Pearl River Delta.
