Singapore crypto activity grows 55% as broader region contracts
Singapore’s crypto activity rose 55.4% to $284 billion in the year to June 2026, making it the largest crypto economy in Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania again, even as the region overall fell 6.8%. Growth was driven mainly by institutional platform activity, which jumped 94% to $60 billion and was concentrated among existing market makers, OTC firms, and institutional brokerages. Singapore’s rise came alongside tighter regulation and continued support for tokenization and stablecoin settlement. MAS required crypto firms serving overseas clients to be licensed or exit, while expanding pilots under its BLOOM program. Elsewhere in the region, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam led small-value P2P activity, with 5.4 million transfers under $10,000. Cross-border stablecoin use also surged, exceeding domestic activity in every market analyzed and reaching 3.2 times the domestic volume regionwide.
