Singapore’s Crypto Economy Jumps 55% While the Wider Region Shrinks

Singapore’s crypto activity rose 55.4% to $284 billion in the year ended June 2026, according to Chainalysis. This made it the largest crypto economy in Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania (CSAO) again, even as the wider region contracted 6.8%. Institutional platform activity grew 94% to $60 billion, mostly among a few market makers, over-the-counter firms and brokerages. Chainalysis said the growth came from high-volume existing platforms, not new services.

MAS Rules and Tokenization Push

In 2025, MAS told local crypto firms serving overseas clients to get a license or exit. StraitsX CEO Tianwei Liu said this cut speculation and left more banks and large companies using blockchain in production. MAS also runs the BLOOM program, which tests regulated stablecoins and tokenized bank money. Ripple joined on March 25 to test cross border trade settlement with RLUSD.

Small-Value P2P Crypto Transfers in Southeast Asia

The three countries made 5.4 million P2P transfers under $10,000, or 14.4% of the global total, while holding only 2.5% of the global crypto economy. Average domestic transfers were $618, against $1,210 elsewhere.

Stablecoin Use Rising

Cross border stablecoin activity is 3.2 times larger than domestic activity. Thailand and Vietnam have domestic stablecoin markets of $10.4 billion and $6.9 billion. PDAX CEO Nichel Gaba estimates 5% to 10% of Philippine remittances use stablecoins, and the Bank of the Philippine Islands plans a settlement pilot.