Singapore's Stablecoin Framework: MAS Rules in 2026

At a glance

Category	Issued	Label
Domestic	In Singapore, regulated by MAS	MAS-regulated stablecoin
Multi-jurisdictional	In several jurisdictions including Singapore, regulated by MAS	MAS-regulated stablecoin
Foreign	Abroad, under an equivalent regime	MAS-recognised stablecoin (case by case)
Everything else	Anywhere	None; treated as a digital payment token

Categories as proposed in MAS's 1 September 2026 consultation, per Sidley's summary.

What the framework requires

A MAS-regulated stablecoin must be pegged to a single currency, the Singapore dollar or a G10 currency, and backed by a segregated pool of reserve assets worth at least its par value at all times. Holders must be able to redeem at par within a timeframe MAS sets.

• Reserves: at least 100% of par value, in low-risk, highly liquid assets, held in segregated trust accounts. For multi-jurisdictional coins the 100% test applies to the reserves of all issuers together.
• Redemption: at par, within a period MAS will specify.
• Disclosure: a white paper and regular reserve attestations.
• Issuer: a licensed entity with capital and solvency requirements. Only a licensee may present itself as the issuer of a MAS-regulated stablecoin.

Coins outside the framework are not banned. They remain digital payment tokens under the Payment Services Act, so licensed platforms can list them; they just cannot use the label. See Singapore crypto regulation in 2026 for the licensing side.

The 2026 consultation: from policy to statute

MAS published proposed amendments to the Payment Services Act on 1 September 2026 and took feedback until 16 October 2026. The proposals put the framework into law, add the multi-jurisdictional and foreign "recognised" categories, and ask several open questions.

The open questions matter more than the settled parts:

• Interest. Should issuers be barred from paying interest or any other benefit, directly or indirectly, for holding a MAS-regulated stablecoin?
• Caps. Should there be limits on individual holdings or on total issuance?
• Cash share. Should a minimum proportion of reserves be held in cash or bank deposits?
• Buffers. MAS may impose extra capital, liquidity or reserve buffers where it finds critical vulnerabilities.

The quantitative detail will sit in subsidiary legislation, to be consulted on separately. No date for the final bill had been published by 23 October 2026, so treat any "in force" claim with caution until MAS announces it. The SFF 2025 keynote is where MAS first said legislation was coming; the Singapore FinTech Festival on 18-20 November 2026 is a likely moment for the next update.

Why "MAS-recognised" is the interesting part

The recognised category would let MAS accept a limited number of stablecoins issued abroad, case by case, if the home regime is substantively equivalent and the two supervisors share information. It is the first sign that Singapore will not insist every trusted stablecoin be issued locally.

The obvious candidates are dollar stablecoins issued under the US GENIUS Act or euro coins under MiCA, but nothing has been recognised yet and MAS has not named candidates. Recognition would be a regulatory signal, not a change in what the coin is: the reserves, the issuer and the chains it runs on stay the same.

Singapore vs the GENIUS Act vs MiCA

	Singapore (MAS)	United States (GENIUS Act)	European Union (MiCA)
Status	Framework since 2023; statute in consultation	Law since July 2025; rules being written	In force since 2024
Reserves	At least 100% of par, segregated	1:1 in cash, deposits and short Treasuries	1:1, with a share held as bank deposits
Interest to holders	Open question in 2026	Issuers may not pay interest	Issuers may not pay interest
Foreign coins	"Recognised" category proposed	Comparable-regime pathway	Issuer must be authorised in the EU
Label for compliant coins	"MAS-regulated stablecoin"	"Permitted payment stablecoin"	E-money token (EMT)

All three agree on the basics: full reserves, redemption at par, licensed issuers. They differ on how they treat coins issued elsewhere and on how much of the reserve must sit in bank deposits. More detail on the US and EU in the GENIUS Act explained and MiCA vs the GENIUS Act.

What the label does not protect against

A MAS-regulated label is about the issuer: reserves, redemption and supervision. It does not make the coin risk-free for every holder, and it does not cover the platforms or smart contracts where people use it.

• Redemption is for the issuer's customers. Par redemption is a right against the issuer. A holder who bought on an exchange or in a DeFi pool usually sells at the market price, which can dip in a panic even when reserves are full.
• Platform risk stays. An exchange or wallet that holds the coin for you can fail or freeze withdrawals regardless of how well the coin is backed.
• Smart-contract risk stays. A regulated coin lent on a DeFi protocol carries that protocol's risk. See DeFi risks.
• Freezes and clawbacks. Regulated issuers can, and sometimes must, freeze addresses under court or sanctions orders. That is a feature for regulators and a risk to understand for users.

The useful way to read the label is as a floor on issuer quality, not a guarantee of price. The same is true of the GENIUS Act and MiCA labels.

Timeline

Date	Step
2023	MAS finalises the single-currency stablecoin framework
13 Nov 2025	At SFF 2025, MAS says it will legislate the framework
1 Sep 2026	Consultation on Payment Services Act amendments opens
16 Oct 2026	Consultation closes
To be announced	Bill, subsidiary legislation with quantitative rules, commencement

What it means for stablecoins on Stellar

Most stablecoin activity on Stellar is USDC, issued by Circle under US and EU regimes, plus a growing list of other fiat coins. None is MAS-regulated today. Singapore users and platforms can still hold and move them as digital payment tokens.

Two things could change that. A Singapore-licensed issuer could launch a MAS-regulated SGD or USD coin on Stellar, as several issuers have chosen Stellar for low fees and built-in issuer controls. Or MAS could recognise a foreign coin that already lives on Stellar. Either would sit naturally in Stellar's model, where the issuer controls authorisation and clawback at the asset level, a feature regulators tend to ask for. See stablecoins on Stellar and tokenized deposits vs stablecoins.

The compliance layer behind any stablecoin

Whichever label a coin carries, the platforms that distribute it carry the customer-facing duties: identity checks, sanctions and PEP screening, transaction monitoring and the Travel Rule. Identity-verification companies such as iDenfy, whose platform combines document and face verification with AML screening and ongoing monitoring, are the part of that stack users actually see when they sign up. More in the crypto Travel Rule.