Singapore 2035: Technology, Sustainability and Geopolitics (1990–2026)

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• 1990: Singapore and the United States sign a memorandum giving American forces access to Singapore’s air and naval facilities. It is renewed in September 2019 until 2035.¹
• 1 January 2003: The Strategic Goods (Control) Act comes into force.²
• 2016: MAS begins Project Ubin on distributed ledger technology for wholesale finance. The project runs in five phases until 2020.³
• 21 September 2016: Singapore ratifies the Paris Agreement.⁴
• 12 November 2018: MAS publishes the FEAT Principles on fairness, ethics, accountability and transparency in the use of artificial intelligence and data analytics.⁵
• 11 November 2019: MAS launches its Green Finance Action Plan with a US$2 billion Green Investments Programme.⁶
• 28 January 2020: The Payment Services Act 2019 comes into force and brings digital payment token services under licence.⁷
• December 2020: MAS issues Guidelines on Environmental Risk Management for banks, insurers and asset managers.⁸
• 10 February 2021: The government publishes the Singapore Green Plan 2030.⁹
• 17 January 2022: MAS restricts the marketing of digital payment token services to the general public.¹⁰
• May 2022: The TerraUSD stablecoin collapses. Three Arrows Capital, which operated from Singapore, is ordered into liquidation on 27 June.¹¹
• 31 May 2022: MAS launches Project Guardian on the tokenisation of assets.¹²
• August 2022: Singapore auctions its first sovereign green bond, a fifty-year infrastructure bond.¹³
• October 2022: The United States imposes export controls on advanced computing chips and chip-making equipment destined for China.¹⁴
• 11 November 2022: FTX files for bankruptcy. Temasek writes down its investment of 275 million US dollars to zero.¹⁵
• 15 August 2023: MAS finalises its regulatory framework for single-currency stablecoins.¹⁶
• December 2023: At COP28, MAS launches the Singapore-Asia Taxonomy on 3 December and Singapore unveils the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P).¹⁷
• 1 January 2024: The carbon tax rises from S$5 to S$25 per tonne. It reaches S$45 on 1 January 2026.¹⁸
• 15 May 2024: Lawrence Wong succeeds Lee Hsien Loong as Prime Minister.¹⁹
• 2 April 2025: The United States announces a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on imports from all countries, which applies to Singapore from 5 April despite the bilateral free trade agreement.²⁰
• April 2025: Singapore’s share of global foreign exchange trading reaches 11.8 per cent in the BIS Triennial Survey, confirming it as the third-largest centre after the United Kingdom and the United States.²¹
• 30 June 2025: The licensing regime for digital token service providers serving only overseas customers takes effect. Firms without a licence move to Dubai, Hong Kong or Abu Dhabi.²²
• 27 May 2026: The Boston Consulting Group reports that Hong Kong has overtaken Switzerland as the largest cross-border wealth centre. Singapore holds US$2.1 trillion.²³
• 7 October 2026: MAS publishes its final Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management, which take effect on 7 October 2027.²⁴
• 23 October 2026: MAS publishes details of BLOOM, its settlement initiative for tokenised money, with 24 industry members.²⁵

Notes

1. Ministry of Defence of Singapore, news release of 24 September 2019; see Chapters F.IV and K.V. ↩
2. Singapore Customs, “Strategic Goods Control: Overview”; see Chapters H.IV and K.V. ↩
3. MAS, “Project Ubin”; see Chapter K.I. ↩
4. National Climate Change Secretariat and NEA, “Carbon Tax”; see Chapter K.II. ↩
5. MAS, “MAS introduces new FEAT Principles”; see Chapter K.IV. ↩
6. MAS, “New US$2 billion Investments Programme”; see Chapter K.II. ↩
7. Wikipedia, “Payment Services Act 2019”; Mondo Visione; see Chapter K.I. ↩
8. MAS, “Regulatory and Supervisory Approach”; see Chapter K.II. ↩
9. Wikipedia, “Singapore Green Plan 2030” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter K.II. ↩
10. MAS, Guidelines on Provision of Digital Payment Token Services to the Public; see Chapter K.I. ↩
11. Wikipedia, “Terra (blockchain)” and “Three Arrows Capital” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter K.I. ↩
12. MAS, “Project Guardian”; see Chapters K.I and K.VI. ↩
13. Significant Infrastructure Government Loan Act 2021; see Chapter K.II. ↩
14. Wikipedia, “United States New Export Controls on Advanced Computing and Semiconductors” (accessed November 2026); see Chapters I.II and K.V. ↩
15. Wikipedia, “FTX” (accessed November 2026); see Chapters D.I and K.I. ↩
16. MAS, media release “MAS Finalises Stablecoin Regulatory Framework”, 15 August 2023; see Chapter K.I. ↩
17. MAS, media release of 3 December 2023; see Chapter K.II. ↩
18. National Climate Change Secretariat, “Carbon Tax”; see Chapters G.IV, K.II and K.VI. ↩
19. Wikipedia, “Lee Hsien Loong” (accessed November 2026); see Chapter K.V. ↩
20. Wikipedia, “Liberation Day tariffs” (accessed November 2026); see Chapters F.IV, K.V and K.VI. ↩
21. MAS, media release “Singapore Strengthens Position as Third Largest Global FX Centre”; see Chapters C.IV and K.VI. ↩
22. MAS, media release “MAS Clarifies Regulatory Regime for Digital Token Service Providers”; see Chapter K.I. ↩
23. Boston Consulting Group, press release of 27 May 2026; see Chapters D.V, K.III and K.VI. ↩
24. MAS, Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management, 7 October 2026; see Chapters K.IV and K.VI. ↩
25. MAS, “BLOOM”, mas.gov.sg, 23 October 2026; see Chapter K.I. ↩

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.