singapore

The first two batches of confiscated assets in the Singapore 3 billion Singapore dollars money laundering case have officially opened for auction, with an overall estimated value between 2.9 million and 3.9 million. The auction is conducted solely online, and bidders cannot place bids in person or via phone. Currently, the confiscated items are stored in the Le Freeport warehouse at Changi North, and interested bidders from Singapore and abroad can visit, but must make an appointment in advance, with limited slots available. Among the items, the most notable are the limited edition pumpkin bags from Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama.It is reported that this case is one of the largest money laundering cases in Singapore in recent years. The involved person, Wang Shuiming's partner, Su Weiyi, has been confirmed as the mastermind behind the cryptocurrency platform scam Atom Asset Exchange. Another involved person, Su Baolin, had received illegal online gambling proceeds from abroad through USDT and exchanged part of the USDT for at least 463,000 Singapore dollars in cash in 2023. He also used USDT to purchase a Toyota Alphard.

The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has received authorization from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) under the Regulation 48.1 framework to open its Bitcoin and Ethereum perpetual contracts to U.S. institutional investors. KC Lam, Head of Crypto Derivatives at SGX Group, stated that previously U.S. participants were unable to trade these contracts, but they are now permitted direct access to its trading system.Since its launch at the end of November 2025, SGX's crypto perpetual contracts have accumulated a trading volume of $5.8 billion (approximately 400,000 lots), with an average daily trading volume of 1,300 lots ($19 million) as of August. Bitcoin accounts for 66% of open contracts and 83% of average daily trading volume, with a single-day peak trading volume of 11,500 lots (notional value of $145 million). Lam indicated that as the FIS backend integration is fully ready, they will assist U.S. clearing members in onboarding clients in the next month or two.Unlike crypto-native platforms, SGX's perpetual contracts have no expiration date but employ a margin call and collateral top-up mechanism instead of automatic liquidation, separating trading and clearing based on traditional futures market infrastructure. Stablecoins are not accepted as collateral, and the contract benchmark index is jointly developed by SGX and CoinDesk Indices. SGX's next step is to launch Bitcoin and Ethereum futures and options.

According to BBX data, global listed treasury, well-known exchanges, and cross-border clearing platforms disclosed the latest updates yesterday, with the core information as follows:Strive's preferred stock SATA approaches $1 billion, holding over 24,500 coins: The perpetual preferred stock SATA issued by Strive (NASDAQ: $ASST) has a market value nearing $1 billion. Currently, Strive's balance sheet holds a total of 24,531 Bitcoins (worth approximately $1.96 billion). Thanks to an annualized dividend yield of up to 13%, SATA demonstrates strong financing capabilities, helping the company continuously raise funds to allocate BTC. In contrast, the similar preferred stock STRC under another treasury giant Strategy has an annualized dividend yield of 12%, but its secondary market trading price has consistently underperformed its par value, failing to return to the $100 benchmark since May of this year.Gemini obtains a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS): Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini officially announced that its Singapore entity, Gemini Digital Payments Singapore, Pte. Ltd. (GDPSPL), has successfully obtained a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license officially issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). After approval, Gemini will be allowed to compliantly provide digital payment tokens (DPT) and compliant cross-border remittance clearing services within Singapore, further solidifying its compliance center layout in the Asia-Pacific region.OSL Group partners with Waka to facilitate stablecoin settlements for trade corridors between Africa and the world: Hong Kong-listed stablecoin payment and trading platform OSL Group (00863.HK) announced a deep cooperation with the payment platform Waka, which connects emerging market liquidity and clearing networks. OSL will deeply integrate institutional-level infrastructure covering stablecoin to USD and USD-native payment capabilities into Waka's clearing system, focusing on empowering seamless cross-border clearing and corporate settlement needs for major trade corridors between Africa and the world.

Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini announced that its subsidiary Gemini Digital Payments Singapore, Pte. Ltd. (GDPSPL) has obtained a Major Payment Institution (MPI) license issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), allowing it to provide digital payment token and cross-border remittance services.

Circle announced that it has signed a final agreement to acquire Tazapay, a B2B cross-border payment infrastructure company headquartered in Singapore. The transaction is expected to be completed in 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, including approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.Tazapay has an annualized payment volume of over $25 billion, more than 60 banking and fintech partners, and local payment channels covering over 100 markets. Approximately 60% of Tazapay's transaction volume includes stablecoins.

On September 8, the cryptocurrency exchange WEEX announced that it will attend TOKEN2049 Singapore as a platinum sponsor for the third consecutive year. The event will be held from October 7 to 8 at Marina Bay Sands.WEEX will showcase new products and the latest developments in WEEX AI, with booths PB1-28 and PB1-23, aimed at traders, developers, partners, and community members.

According to the Straits Times, Telegram experienced a service outage on the morning of September 8. Users in Singapore began to report issues around 10:20, with Downdetector reporting nearly 4,000 incidents shortly after 10:30, mainly related to the app and messaging features.As of 11:30, the number of outage reports had decreased to about 350, and Telegram services are gradually recovering. Currently, Telegram has not disclosed the cause of the outage.

According to CoinDesk, a 22-year-old man from Singapore will plead guilty in one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in the United States.The scammer posed as customer service representatives from Google and Gemini, tricking an investor into handing over Bitcoin worth $240 million.

The latest report from the market intelligence platform Tracxn shows that since 2026, the Southeast Asian blockchain industry has accumulated $680 million in equity financing, more than double the $319 million for the entire year of 2025. However, this round of recovery is mainly driven by a few mature companies: only 25 rounds of financing were completed this year, compared to 46 rounds in 2025 and a peak of 206 rounds in 2022; the $400 million Series D financing of the cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com accounted for nearly 60% of the total.From a segmented perspective, crypto financial services are the biggest beneficiaries, receiving a total of $498 million in financing this year (19 rounds), a year-on-year increase of 48.4%; tokenization platforms received $114 million, and decentralized application development platforms received $77 million. Among the 3,957 blockchain companies tracked by Tracxn, 1,323 have received equity financing, but only 167 have entered Series A and beyond, 50 have entered Series B, 14 have entered Series C, and only 4 have entered Series D and beyond.In terms of geography, Singapore dominates the Southeast Asian crypto investment market, accounting for 82.5% of the region's cumulative blockchain financing amount of $6.2 billion, and has 2,285 tracked companies, while Jakarta, ranked second, accounts for only 3%. In terms of exits, there have been 43 acquisitions and 4 IPOs in the region, including SBI Group's acquisition of the Singapore exchange CoinHako and Bybit's acquisition of NOBI. Southeast Asia has produced 6 blockchain unicorns to date, including Sygnum, Bitkub, Sky Mavis, and Amber Group.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has proposed amendments to the Payment Services Act, requiring stablecoin issuers to always hold at least 100% of the circulating tokens in equivalent assets as reserves, which must be segregated from the issuer's own funds and only held with licensed financial institutions.The proposal also prohibits issuers from paying interest or other yields linked to stablecoin holdings to holders, on the grounds that stablecoins are intended for payments rather than investment or yield generation. This stance is consistent with the U.S. GENIUS Act and the EU MiCA regulation. The consultation also considers limited recognition for foreign stablecoins regulated under equivalent overseas frameworks. The consultation closes on October 16, and the implementation date has not yet been announced.MAS Deputy Managing Director Ho Hern Shin stated that trusted and well-regulated stablecoins can serve as reliable settlement assets in the tokenized financial market, while reducing risks for users and the broader financial system.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore is publicly soliciting opinions on the proposed legislative amendments to the Payment Services Act 2019, aimed at establishing a regulatory framework for stablecoins in Singapore. At the same time, it is seeking public feedback on related proposals for further regulatory requirements, which reference the developments in the stablecoin industry since 2023.This consultation also seeks opinions on policy positions regarding the issuance of stablecoins across multiple jurisdictions and the recognition of overseas-issued stablecoins. The deadline for submitting opinions is October 16.

According to Bloomberg, the U.S. government is investigating Apex Logistics, headquartered in Singapore, for allegedly playing a role in smuggling NVIDIA AI chips to China. Sources say this could become the first action against a transportation company involved in illegal semiconductor trade.Authorities are verifying whether Apex (a unit of shipping giant Kuehne+Nagel) violated U.S. export restrictions by transporting AI systems assembled by Super Micro Computer. NVIDIA chips are regarded as the industry standard for training and running AI models, and companies like Super Micro Computer assemble them into data center servers.

Visa announced its participation in the BLOOM (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency) initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), aimed at expanding the settlement capabilities of financial institutions and promoting interoperability between traditional payment systems and stablecoin payment rails, allowing institutions to enjoy faster, programmable payments while retaining security and compliance assurances.As the first partner under the BLOOM framework, Nium will pilot the use of stablecoin settlements with Visa, exploring more efficient cross-border fund flows based on Visa's payment network, security, and compliance capabilities. The two parties will study the implementation of settlements seven days a week (including weekends and public holidays) using stablecoins to reduce delays and enhance efficiency. The pilot supports regulated stablecoins backed by major currencies, including US dollar and euro-denominated stablecoins.

The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) has ordered the freezing of approximately SGD 75 million worth of Bitcoin and USD Coin, involving a transfer dispute between a global major cryptocurrency exchange operator (the plaintiff and related companies) and a long-term customer. In a ruling made in March 2026 by Singapore High Court Judge Aidan Xu and SICC international judges Anthony Meagher and David Goddard, the court granted the plaintiff a temporary injunction, prohibiting the defendant from disposing of 816,773 USDC and 780 BTC transferred from two dedicated wallets on the platform and the corresponding profits, and required the defendant to disclose the whereabouts of the assets, but did not allow the plaintiff to use that information to apply for similar injunctions in other jurisdictions.The defendant had held 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH in the dedicated wallet. The plaintiff claimed that due to technical reasons, the internal ledger did not record the defendant's transfer operation in March 2020, and the wallet appeared empty. Based on this misunderstanding, the plaintiff transferred 2,500 BTC and 2,500 BCH to the defendant's other wallet in July 2024. The defendant subsequently exchanged 20 BTC for approximately 816,773 USDC and transferred it along with 780 BTC to a non-plaintiff custodial wallet between July and November 2024. After discovering the ledger error in January 2025, the plaintiff froze the defendant's wallet and recovered the remaining 1,700 BTC and 2,500 BCH.

According to the Financial Times, citing two informed sources, regulators are preparing to lift the exit restrictions on Manus founder and CEO Xiao Hong and others. Xiao Hong has informed employees that he plans to return to Singapore soon.Xiao Hong and Manus co-founder and chief scientist Ji Yichao were asked to stay in the country in March this year. At that time, regulators were investigating whether Meta's acquisition of Manus violated relevant regulations. In April, regulators requested Meta to withdraw the approximately $2 billion acquisition.Manus has officially confirmed this week that it will resume independent operations. The split plan is also taking shape. Original shareholders such as Tencent, ZhenFund, and HSG will participate in the buyback, and Tencent will also acquire most of Benchmark's shares, becoming the largest single shareholder of Manus, but its stake will not exceed 50%. Manus will not be merged into Tencent and will continue to operate independently in Singapore.The final plan still requires approval from regulatory authorities. From the current plan, regulators are requesting the dismantling of Meta's acquisition relationship with Manus, but they have not asked Manus to relocate its business.

According to CNA, the Singapore Police Force (SPF) and the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) reported that a cryptocurrency scam involving fake job postings and compromised software systems resulted in losses of $11.8 million.The scam group impersonated cryptocurrency company recruiters on LinkedIn, used forged domain names to send emails, conducted video interviews, and induced victims to download malware on company devices to complete "technical tests," thereby stealing session tokens, bypassing multi-factor authentication, and ultimately transferring cryptocurrency.

According to a report by South Korea's Asia Economy, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund Temasek has decided to invest in the South Korean stock market for the first time, having selected Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as investment targets, and is in contact with the South Korean government to discuss the timing of fund execution. Temasek manages assets of approximately 518 billion Singapore dollars (about 572 trillion Korean won), and this investment will be managed internally rather than through external asset management.Temasek believes that the storage semiconductor sector in the AI value chain is undervalued by the market. Recently, it has been increasing its investments in AI-related fields and already holds shares in semiconductor giants such as Nvidia, TSMC, and ASML, and is also one of the major institutional investors in OpenAI and Anthropic. Temasek plans to increase the proportion of AI-related investments from the current 6% to a maximum of 15% over the next five years. If executed smoothly, this will be Temasek's first direct entry into the South Korean stock market.

According to market news, Anthropic, Macquarie Asset Management, and the Singapore Government Investment Corporation announced the establishment of a strategic partnership.

The renowned crypto event TOKEN2049 will be held from October 7 to 8 at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore, expected to attract 25,000 attendees from over 7,000 companies across 160 countries, featuring 500 booths, 300 speakers, and over 1,000 side events.TOKEN2049 co-founder Alex Fiskum stated that this year's Dubai event has been postponed to 2027, and the team will fully focus on the Singapore event. In addition, a 36-hour hackathon TOKEN2049 Origins and the NEXUS startup competition will be held during the event week, with well-known venture capital firms such as Dragonfly, Multicoin, and Maelstrom serving as judges.