Who is a digital token service provider

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Part 9 applies to two kinds of person. The first is an individual or a partnership that, from a place of business in Singapore, carries on a business of providing a digital token service outside Singapore. The second is a Singapore corporation, including a limited liability partnership, that carries on a business, whether from Singapore or elsewhere, of providing a digital token service outside Singapore.¹ The second category is the striking one. A company incorporated in Singapore is caught by Part 9 even if its directors, staff and servers are all abroad, because incorporation is the connecting factor that FATF requires. The company's only way out is to be licensed or exempt under one of the main Acts, or to cease the activity, or to cease to be a Singapore corporation.

The term "digital token" is defined to cover two classes. The first is digital payment tokens within the meaning of the Payment Services Act. The second is digital representations of capital markets products within the meaning of the SFA.² Utility tokens and governance tokens that are neither DPTs nor capital markets products are outside Part 9 altogether, which is consistent with their treatment under the other Acts.

The digital token services listed in the Schedule mirror the DPT service under the Payment Services Act and the regulated activities under the SFA. They include dealing in digital tokens, facilitating their exchange, arranging or inducing transfers, providing custody of digital tokens or of the instruments enabling control over them, and advising on digital tokens.³ Purely technical services, where the provider never possesses money or tokens and does not arrange the exchange, are excluded, as under the Payment Services Act.

Example

A company incorporated in Singapore operates a cryptocurrency exchange whose customers are all in Latin America. Its founders live in Dubai, its servers are in Frankfurt and its Singapore presence is a registered office provided by a corporate secretary. Before 30 June 2025 the company needed no Singapore licence, because it provided no payment service in Singapore. Since that date it is a digital token service provider under Part 9. It must either hold an FSMA licence, which MAS has said it will grant only in extremely limited circumstances, or cease providing the service. In practice the company must redomicile or transfer its business to a non-Singapore entity, and must do so without breaching the law of the jurisdictions where its customers live. The Singapore registered office alone is enough to bring the company within the Act.

Notes

Rajah & Tann, "Regulatory Framework for Virtual Asset Service Providers in line with FATF Enhanced Standards Commences on 30 June 2025", June 2025, describing the two categories of digital token service provider under Part 9: individuals and partnerships operating from a place of business in Singapore, and Singapore corporations including LLPs, in each case providing digital token services outside Singapore. ↩
Allen & Gledhill, "Clarifications on licensing under Part 9 of Financial Services and Markets Act 2022", June 2025: digital tokens cover digital payment tokens, such as cryptocurrencies and single-currency stablecoins, and tokens of capital markets products, such as tokenised equities, debentures and fund units; conventional non-tokenised capital markets products are not covered. ↩
Bird & Bird, "Assessing the Scope of Part 9 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2022 for Digital Token Service Providers", 2025, listing the regulated digital token services: buying or selling digital tokens, operating an exchange, arranging transfers, inducing others to buy or sell, providing custody where the provider controls the tokens, and advising on digital tokens. ↩

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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KGP Legal LLC is a medium-sized law firm in Singapore that is capable of providing the full range of legal services and corporate administration work. Please contact me directly at [email protected] if you need any further information.

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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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