Useful Articles / Asia-Pacific
Hong Kong and Singapore license exchanges by name — and most global platforms are not on the list
Hong Kong and Singapore did something most jurisdictions avoid: they published lists of exactly which platforms are licensed, by legal entity. If the venue you use is not on the relevant list, that is not a technicality — in Hong Kong's case the regulator says so directly.
Hong Kong: licensed by name, and the list is short
Under the Securities and Futures Ordinance and the anti-money-laundering ordinance, a centralised virtual asset trading platform must be licensed by the SFC if it carries on business in Hong Kong or actively markets its services to Hong Kong investors. That second limb is the one that catches offshore venues.
As of 2026 the SFC's list of licensed platforms ran to around thirteen operators — names like HashKey, OSL and HKVAX, alongside subsidiaries of local brokerages. The large global exchanges most Hong Kong residents have heard of are not among them.
The applicant list is not the licensed list
The SFC publishes a separate list of applicants, and states plainly that platforms on it are not licensed and may not be in compliance with its requirements. It also warns about the risks of trading on a deemed-to-be-licensed applicant, which may never be granted a licence and may have to close.
There is a second constraint that has nothing to do with licensing. Retail trading in Hong Kong is limited to a short list of large-cap coins. A licensed platform is not a platform where you can buy anything you like.
Singapore: licensed under the Payment Services Act
Singapore regulates crypto trading through digital payment token services under the Payment Services Act, supervised by MAS. A platform serving Singapore customers holds a Major Payment Institution licence, and MAS publishes the register through its Financial Institutions Directory.
Among the global venues, OKX holds an MAS licence for digital payment token services. Several others familiar to Singapore traders — including Coinbase and Bitstamp — appear on the same register. Others do not, and operate on a cross-border basis instead.
MAS also went further than most regulators in 2025. Providers incorporated in Singapore serving only overseas customers were told they needed a licence too, and MAS said openly that it had set the bar high and would generally not issue one. Platforms that could not comply left.
Licensed does not mean endorsed
MAS has repeatedly said it does not consider cryptocurrencies suitable for retail investors. Licensing in Singapore brings asset segregation, AML supervision and technology risk requirements — it does not bring an opinion that the asset is a good idea. Retail users also face a mandatory risk quiz and a ban on buying crypto with a credit card.
What "not on the list" actually means for you
It does not automatically mean the platform is a scam. Large, long-established exchanges operate in many markets on a cross-border basis without a local licence, and plenty of people use them without incident.
What it does mean is that the local regulator's protections do not attach to your account. If something goes wrong — a withdrawal freeze, an insolvency, a dispute over custody — the SFC or MAS is not your regulator, and the segregation and capital rules those regimes impose were never applied to the entity holding your money.
It also means the position can change quickly. A regulator that publishes a licensed list can publish an enforcement notice just as easily, and residents typically find out when access stops rather than in advance.
How to check, in about five minutes
Both regulators publish their registers publicly, and both are searchable. Find the legal entity name in the platform's terms of service — not the brand on the app, which rarely matches — and search for that. Then confirm two things: that the entry is a full licence rather than an application or approval-in-principle, and that the licensed activity covers what you actually want to do.
This is the same routine that works in the EEA through ESMA's register, in Dubai through VARA's, and in the US through the CFTC and NFA. The regulators differ; the method does not.