Report contents
APAC · Pioneer
Singapore
Crypto Livability Index 2025·data to 31 Dec 2025
Scoreboard
Five pillars, then the 22 sub-pillars scored 0 to 4. Empty sub-scores are held out of the total, not zeroed.
The number behind the rank
| Raw capability score | 65 / 84 |
| P2P liquidity bonus (tie-breaker) | +1 |
| Inflation 2.7% · unbanked 2% · remittances 0% GDP · capital controls 0 · sanctions 0 | CNI 0.015 |
| Need multiplier | ×0.523 |
| Livability score | 0.404 |
Raw 65/84 = 0.774 capability. Crypto-Necessity Index 0.01, from five components: inflation 2.7% (three-year average 2023 to 2025), unbanked 2% of adults, remittances 0% of GDP, capital-control intensity 0.00 (KAOPEN 2023), sanctions exposure 0. Need multiplier ×0.52. Livability score 0.404, rank #45 of 79.
Three findings
Capability of a global hub, need of almost zero: minus 30 places
Singapore ranks #15 on raw capability but falls to #45 once need is applied. The Crypto-Necessity Index is 0.01, the lowest in the region: inflation 2.7%, 2% of adults unbanked, remittances effectively 0% of GDP. As a wealthy financial centre with a large migrant workforce sending money out, it is structurally a remittance sender, not a market with survival demand.
A zero capital-gains regime that was never a crypto carve-out
Individual investors pay no tax on crypto gains, not because of a targeted exemption but because Singapore has never had a general capital-gains tax, making the shield structurally more durable than temporary reliefs elsewhere. The spending stack is deep: MAS-licensed gateways onboard luxury retail, department stores and the entire GrabPay base, and at least two Tier-1 cards serve residents.
Among the strictest KYC regimes on Earth, by deliberate design
The travel rule carries no anonymous threshold, unhosted-wallet withdrawals require proof of ownership, and the Digital Token Service Provider regime that took effect 30 June 2025 extends licensing extraterritorially to Singapore-based providers serving overseas users. Retail lending and staking are banned. The friction is a policy choice, not a market gap.
In one line
"Singapore offers a zero-tax, fully licensed home for crypto wealth and one of the strictest rulebooks anywhere. What it does not offer its own residents is a reason to need any of it."
Watch in 2026
Trajectory 2/4, stable to mixed. MAS expanded Major Payment Institution licensing and granted seven new digital-token licences in 2025, but the Digital Token Service Provider regime that took effect 30 June 2025 forces offshore-only providers to cease unless licensed, with approvals granted in only "extremely limited circumstances," and retail lending and staking are banned. Compliant institutions gain runway while consumer-facing unlicensed access is squeezed.