An MPI is a Major Payment Institution licence, issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) under the Payment Services Act. Crypto dealing, exchange, transfer and custody count as a digital payment token (DPT) service. For it you need S$250,000 base capital and a S$100,000 or S$200,000 security with MAS. MAS charges S$1,500 to apply and S$10,000 a year per service.
Four numbers before you apply for a Singapore MPI
This piece sits under our substance, cost and risk guide and answers one question: what a Singapore MPI costs and obliges a crypto business to do. Whether Singapore's Payment Services Act is the right law for you at all is covered in which Singapore crypto licence do you need; e-money and card programmes are compared in EMI vs API vs MPI.
Key takeaways
- The official fees are in the Regulations' Schedule: S$1,500 to apply and S$10,000 a year for a DPT service.
- Expect to commit at least S$350,000 before opening: S$250,000 base capital plus a S$100,000 security, or S$450,000 with the S$200,000 security.
- Customer crypto must be in a trust account, or returned, by the next business day, and reconciled every business day.
- On 10 November 2026, every payment licence on MAS's directory that lists a DPT service was an MPI. No Standard Payment Institution listed one.
On this page8 sections
What does an MPI licence cost?
These are the amounts the law fixes, read from the current Payment Services Act and Payment Services Regulations on 10 November 2026. Professional fees vary and are not included.
Singapore MPI for a DPT service only: amounts set by law
| Item | Amount | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Application fee | S$1,500 | Regulations, Schedule item 3 |
| Annual licence fee | S$10,000 | Regulations, Schedule item 13 |
| Base capital, Singapore-incorporated company | at least S$250,000 | Regulation 12 |
| Net head office funds, foreign company | at least S$250,000 | Regulation 12 |
| Security, if monthly volume is no more than S$6 million for each service | S$100,000 | Regulation 13 |
| Security, any other case | S$200,000 | Regulation 13 |
Three details change the budget:
- The fee is per service. With two or more services, the annual fee is the greater of the per-service amounts added together or the floor, so a second service usually adds a second fee. Fees in the Schedule are non-refundable.
- The security comes first. MAS wants it before you start business, as a cash deposit with MAS or a bank guarantee.
- The capital is a floor, not a target. MAS expects a buffer above the base capital, sized to the business. See minimum capital in our glossary.
Does a crypto business need an MPI, or will an SPI do?
In the Payment Services Act's First Schedule, a DPT service covers dealing in tokens, facilitating their exchange, and accepting tokens to transmit them to another account. Amendments announced by MAS and in force in stages from 4 April 2024 added custody: safeguarding a token you control is a DPT service too. Our glossary entry on the MPI has the short definition.
Scale decides the class. Under section 6(5) you must hold an MPI once the calendar-year average of monthly transactions exceeds S$3 million for any one service, or S$6 million across two or more. Below that, the law allows a Standard Payment Institution (SPI) licence.
In practice the directory points one way. On 10 November 2026, MAS's directory returned 38 MPI results with a DPT service and 0 SPI results with one. If you are planning a crypto business in Singapore, plan for an MPI.
What does MAS look at besides money?
From MAS's licensing page, the MPI checklist runs as follows:
- A Singapore-incorporated company, or a Singapore branch of a foreign corporation.
- A permanent place of business or registered office where books and records are held securely, with at least one person present to handle consumer queries and complaints.
- Directors: one executive director who is a Singapore citizen or PR; or one executive director on an Employment Pass plus at least one other director who is a citizen or PR.
- For online services, a penetration test, with high-risk findings fixed and independently validated before the licence is granted.
- Plans to meet the annual audit requirement in section 37 of the Act.
MAS considers each application on its own merits. Whether a licence is granted, and how long MAS takes, is its decision; we promise neither. How directors, office and compliance staff compare across jurisdictions is in local substance requirements explained.
What changes on the day you are licensed?
A DPT licensee lives by regulations 18B to 18H of the Payment Services Regulations, in force six months from 4 April 2024. Put as a working day:
- On receipt: customer assets go into a trust account, or back to the customer, no later than the next business day.
- In the trust account: those assets cannot be used to pay the licensee's debts.
- By close of every business day: a computation of the customer assets in trust accounts, with the result and its supporting data kept for at least 5 years.
- In the books: a separate entry for each customer, kept in English.
- In the org chart: whoever safeguards customer assets is not, and does not answer to, whoever executes trades or makes trading decisions.
Breaching the core trust-account rules carries a fine of up to S$250,000, plus up to S$25,000 a day while it continues. When custody alone triggers a licence elsewhere is covered in when a wallet needs a custody licence.
What can't you offer retail customers?
MAS's PS-G03 guidelines, effective 4 October 2024, treat every customer other than an institutional investor as retail by default. For retail customers you may not lend their assets or stake them.
The measures MAS announced on 23 November 2023 add five more: assess a customer's risk awareness before giving access; no incentives to trade; no financing, margin or leverage; no locally issued credit cards; and a cap on how much crypto counts towards a customer's net worth. MAS was plain about their limits. Ho Hern Shin, its Deputy Managing Director (Financial Supervision), said:
“While these business conduct and consumer access measures can help meet this objective, they cannot insulate customers from losses associated with the inherently speculative and highly risky nature of cryptocurrency trading.”
How many crypto MPIs are there, and how do you check one?
Use MAS's Financial Institutions Directory: Payments, then the licence type, then filter by activity. On 10 November 2026 it returned 246 Major Payment Institution results, of which 38, about 15%, list a DPT service. The directory warns that one institution can hold several licences, so results can outnumber firms.
Read the activity column, not the licence name. An MPI that does not list a DPT service is not licensed for crypto. Our walk-through of each regulator's register is how to check a crypto licence is real.
Can you buy an MPI company instead?
You can, but check what the licence covers. Some MPI companies offered for sale are licensed for cross-border remittance only. Adding a DPT service means applying to MAS to vary the licence, and the Schedule fee for that is S$1,500. A change of owner raises its own approval questions, covered in who can own a licensed crypto company; the due-diligence list is in is buying a ready-made licence worth it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreign company hold a Singapore MPI?
Through a Singapore branch, yes. MAS accepts a Singapore-incorporated company or a Singapore branch of a foreign corporation, and a foreign company meets the capital rule with net head office funds of at least S$250,000 instead of base capital.
What is the MPI security deposit for?
It backs the institution's obligations to its customers. If the licence is surrendered, lapses or is revoked, MAS may use the security to pay sums customers are still owed. It is held for them, not as working capital.
Is the MPI annual fee per company or per service?
Per service. A DPT service alone costs S$10,000 a year. With two or more services the fee is the greater of the per-service amounts added together or the floor, and fees in the Schedule are non-refundable.
Based on Singapore's Payment Services Act and Payment Services Regulations as in force on 10 November 2026, MAS's licensing page, media releases, the PS-G03 guidelines and the Financial Institutions Directory. This is not legal advice. CryptoLicense is the licensing advisory brand of CL GLOBAL SDN BHD (1421939-T); Singapore is one of the 12 jurisdictions we cover. Whether a licence is granted, and how long a regulator takes, is at the regulator's discretion and we promise neither. Still choosing a route? Start with licence selection and the jurisdictions overview; who we are is on our entity page.