Gemini has secured a full Major Payment Institution license in Singapore, giving its local arm more room to operate after a licensing process that took nearly two years.
- MAS approval: full Major Payment Institution license granted on Sept. 9
- Licensed entity: Gemini Digital Payments Singapore
- Services covered: digital payment token services and cross-border money transfers
- Timeline: in-principle approval came in October 2024
The Monetary Authority of Singapore, the country’s financial regulator and central bank, granted the license to Gemini Digital Payments Singapore, the company’s locally incorporated arm. For a crypto exchange that has spent years selling itself as compliance-first, that is a real win. Singapore does not hand out regulated financial permissions to anyone with a whitepaper and a logo.
The Major Payment Institution, or MPI, license is the higher-tier authorization under Singapore’s Payment Services Act. It lets a firm conduct regulated payment activity at a larger scale than a standard payment license, but it also comes with tighter oversight and compliance demands. More operating room, more scrutiny. No free lunch, and no regulatory cheat codes.
Gemini has operated in Singapore since 2020. MAS gave the company in-principle approval in October 2024, which was only a preliminary step, not final authorization. The full license closes that loop.
While the application was still under review, Gemini moved Singapore customers from Gemini Trust Company to Gemini Digital Payments Singapore in April 2025. The local company operated under a temporary exemption during that time. That kept the business moving while the licensing process played out, but it was still a stopgap, not a finished setup.
With the MPI license now in place, Gemini Digital Payments Singapore can offer digital payment token services and cross-border money transfers under Singapore’s Payment Services Act. That is the regulated framework for crypto-related payment services and international transfers in the city-state.
Gemini says the Singapore unit currently offers spot cryptocurrency trading, custody, and over-the-counter services. Spot trading is the simple buy-and-sell of crypto at current market prices. Custody means safekeeping customer assets. OTC, or over-the-counter, trading happens directly between parties rather than through a public order book.
It helps to separate what Gemini says it offers from what the license actually covers. The license authorizes regulated payment activity. It is not a blank check for every product the company might want to launch. That line gets blurred all the time in crypto, usually right before somebody starts selling a miracle.
Gemini President Cameron Winklevoss said the approval “validates” the company’s investment in Singapore. Chief Executive Tyler Winklevoss called Singapore a “strategic hub” for serving retail and institutional customers. That fits Gemini’s broader pitch, a regulated exchange trying to win trust in markets where that still counts.
The company did not disclose how many Singapore customers it has, or any transaction volume or revenue tied to the market. So while the license is clearly a positive operational step, the actual size of Gemini’s Singapore business remains unclear.
That is not unusual in crypto, but it does make the celebration a little more measured. A license is not the same thing as a breakout business line. It is permission, not proof of scale.
Singapore’s approach explains why this approval matters. The country has become one of the more selective crypto hubs in Asia, favoring firms that can meet compliance and risk-management standards instead of those that just talk a big game. Other MPI license holders in Singapore include Coinbase, Crypto.com, OKX, Bitstamp, and Cumberland. MAS approved Cumberland’s digital token and cross-border payment services in July.
For Gemini, the approval reinforces a familiar message: it wants to be seen as the exchange for users and institutions that prefer regulated infrastructure over offshore chaos. That may sound boring to the degens, but boring is often exactly what institutions want when real money is on the line.
Still, a license should not be romanticized. It does not make a crypto exchange immune to market risk, execution mistakes, or bad judgment. It only means the firm cleared a specific regulatory hurdle in a specific jurisdiction. That matters, but it is not some magical purity badge.
What the Singapore approval does show is that there is still room in crypto for companies that take regulation seriously and build around it instead of trying to dodge it. In a market full of noise, that remains one of the few genuinely durable advantages.
Key questions and takeaways
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Why does Gemini’s Singapore license matter?
It gives Gemini Digital Payments Singapore a higher-tier regulatory approval that supports larger-scale licensed operations in one of Asia’s strictest financial hubs.
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What exactly did MAS approve?
The Gemini receives Singapore payment license for crypto approval came after the company had already received in-principle approval in October 2024.
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What services can Gemini offer there?
The license covers digital payment token services and cross-border money transfers. Gemini also says its Singapore unit offers spot trading, custody, and OTC services.
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Does the license remove all limits?
No. It expands the scale of regulated activity Gemini can conduct, but the company still operates under Singapore’s compliance and oversight framework.
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How big is Gemini’s Singapore business?
Gemini did not disclose customer numbers, revenue, or transaction volume, so the scale of the business is not publicly known.
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Does this make Gemini safer or more credible?
It strengthens Gemini’s regulatory standing, which helps credibility. But licensing is not a guarantee against operational or market risk, so nobody should confuse approval with invincibility.
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What does Singapore’s crypto oversight look like?
It is strict, selective, and not especially interested in hype. That is why firms that cut corners can run into trouble, like in Singapore Revokes Bsquared Crypto License Over Compliance.
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How does this fit into Gemini’s wider regulatory push?
It lines up with Gemini’s broader effort to expand internationally while staying on the right side of regulators, even as it faces pressure elsewhere, including the CFTC vs. Gemini Trial Pushed to January 2025: Regulatory dispute.
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Why does Singapore matter for crypto payments?
The city-state is a serious testing ground for compliant digital finance, including initiatives like Ripple and Singapore’s MAS Launch RLUSD Stablecoin Pilot, which shows regulators there are willing to engage with blockchain when the rules are respected.
