Singapore proposes MAS licence for stablecoins

TLDR

Singapores central bank, MAS, has proposed a new licence regime to formally regulate fiat?pegged stablecoins under the Payment Services Act.

1. MAS wants a dedicated stablecoin issuance licence with strict rules on 100 percent reserves, redemption at par, disclosures, and capital standards.
2. Licensed issuers could market MAS?regulated stablecoins, but they would be banned from paying yield or interest to holders, reshaping lending and earn products.
3. The rules are only a consultation for now, open until 16 Oct 2026, and the key question is which domestic and foreign stablecoins will qualify under the final framework.

Deep Dive

1. What MAS Is Proposing

MAS has published proposed amendments to the Payment Services Act that create a dedicated licence for stablecoin issuers and hard?code its earlier policy framework into law, covering reserve backing, redemption, capital, and disclosures, according to the consultation summary on amendments to the Payment Services Act and stablecoin rules in Singapores Payment Services Act 2019 and related commentary on the regulatory framework.

The regime focuses on single currency stablecoins issued in Singapore and pegged to the Singapore dollar or a G10 currency, with issuers required to hold reserves equal to at least 100 percent of tokens in circulation and to allow redemption at par.

Only firms that obtain the licence and meet all conditions would be allowed to call their tokens MAS?regulated stablecoins and market themselves as such.

2. How It Changes Stablecoin Use

MAS proposes banning issuers from paying yield, interest, or other benefits calculated by reference to customers stablecoin balances, aiming to keep stablecoins as payment and settlement tools rather than quasi?deposit products, as highlighted in coverage of moves to ban stablecoin yield and in the consultation on banning interest on regulated stablecoins.

Issuers would also need to run regular stress tests and maintain recovery and orderly wind?down plans, which raise compliance costs but should improve confidence that regulated stablecoins can survive shocks without disorderly failures.

For users and exchanges in Singapore, the main shift is that MAS?regulated payment stablecoins become a tightly defined, high?quality subset, while other tokens stay in the broader digital payment token bucket with more trading and leverage restrictions.

3. Foreign Issuers And What To Watch Next

MAS is revisiting its 2023 decision to recognise only Singapore?issued stablecoins, and is now considering allowing jointly issued cross?border stablecoins and a limited set of foreign stablecoins, regulated under comparable overseas regimes, to qualify as MAS?regulated stablecoins for cross?border wholesale use, as described in the proposals on recognizing some foreign?issued stablecoins.

The consultation window runs to 16 Oct 2026, and nothing is law yet, so issuers like Tether USDt (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), and local SGD stablecoins will lobby on details such as reserve treatment, redemption rights, and whether their structures fit the framework.

The main things to watch are which coins eventually receive the MAS?regulated label, whether any large foreign stablecoins are recognised, and how Singapore exchanges and payment apps adjust their product menus once the rules are finalized.

Conclusion

Singapore is moving toward a tightly supervised, payment?focused stablecoin regime with full reserve backing, redemption guarantees, and no yield, while leaving room for a small set of foreign and jointly issued tokens to plug into its system.

For crypto users, that should mean more clarity and safety around which stablecoins are treated as money in Singapore and fewer high?yield stablecoin products, with the market impact depending on which issuers ultimately secure the new MAS licence.