The ASEAN context

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Singapore's immediate neighbours have each taken a position, and together they define the regional market that a Singapore-licensed firm serves. Thailand regulated digital-asset businesses by emergency decree in 2018 under the Securities and Exchange Commission and has one of the region's most active retail markets. Malaysia regulates digital assets as securities under the Securities Commission's 2019 order and licenses a small number of exchanges. Indonesia, the region's largest market by population, moved supervision of crypto assets from the commodities regulator to the Financial Services Authority in January 2025 and treats crypto as a financial asset. Vietnam enacted its first digital-asset legislation in 2025 after years of informal tolerance. The Philippines regulates virtual-asset service providers through the central bank.¹

The regional picture explains a feature of the Singapore market that puzzles European observers: the licensed exchanges in Singapore serve a domestic retail market of six million people under tight restrictions, yet they are large and profitable. The answer is that Singapore is the regional headquarters from which the group serves Southeast Asia, with each national market handled through a local licence or a local partner. The Singapore licence is the badge of quality that opens those conversations. A Zug-based group with Asian ambitions should understand that a Singapore licence is bought for the region as much as for the city.

Notes

Thailand, Emergency Decree on Digital Asset Businesses B.E. 2561 (2018); Malaysia, Capital Markets and Services (Prescription of Securities) (Digital Currency and Digital Token) Order 2019; Indonesia, transfer of crypto-asset supervision from Bappebti to the Financial Services Authority (OJK) with effect from January 2025 under Law No. 4 of 2023; Vietnam, Law on Digital Technology Industry passed June 2025; Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Circular No. 1108 (2021) on virtual asset service providers. ↩

For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.

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Dr Alexander Ressos, TEP

Of Counsel, KGP Legal LLC

I am Of Counsel with KGP Legal LLC in Singapore, where I work with a global client base of successful entrepreneurs and their families, independent asset managers, commodity trading houses and other commercial clients. I am a German and Swiss attorney-at-law, also admitted as a solicitor in England & Wales and in Hong Kong. I divide my time between Zug in Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong. Since 2017 I have advised international clients on more than 700 crypto and digital asset projects. I also have extensive experience in cross-border litigation and arbitration in Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets in South-East Asia and Greater China.

I operate across the key financial centres in South-East Asia, the Middle East and Switzerland, with a particular focus on asset protection, international tax and estate planning, as well as trusts, company administration and other fiduciary services. My philosophy is to serve as a trusted advisor working closely with my clients and to help them achieve their commercial objectives.

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SingaporeIQ is edited by Dr Alexander Ressos, an international business lawyer with more than 15 years of local experience in Singapore as a permanent resident, a Singapore registered foreign lawyer and managing partner of a Singapore foreign law practice. In addition to significant experience in cross-border investments and transactions, UHNWI private client work and sanctions/export controls, Dr Ressos has extensive experience in cross-border business and in crypto and digital-asset projects in Singapore, drawn from more than 700 projects since 2017.

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