Singapore crypto activity grows 55% as broader region contracts

Chainalysis data show Singapore's crypto activity increased 55.4% to $284 billion in the year ending June 2026, returning it to the top spot in the Central and Southeast Asia and Oceania (CSAO) region. The firm attributed much of that expansion to institutional-platform activity, which rose 94% to $60 billion and was concentrated among a small set of market makers, over-the-counter trading desks and institutional brokerages. Chainalysis characterized the growth as concentrated high-volume activity on existing platforms rather than an influx of new services.

By contrast, Chainalysis reported that the overall CSAO crypto economy shrank by 6.8% over the same period. Observers link Singapore's institutional growth to regulatory moves and government programs. In 2025 the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) required local crypto firms serving overseas clients to obtain licenses or exit the market, a policy change industry figures say reduced speculative retail activity while leaving more institutional participants. MAS has also expanded tokenization and settlement initiatives, including the BLOOM program for regulated stablecoins and tokenized bank money; on March 25 Ripple joined a BLOOM trial testing cross-border trade settlement using RLUSD.

Separately, Chainalysis identified rising small-value peer-to-peer (P2P) activity in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. The three countries recorded a combined 5.4 million P2P transfers under $10,000 during the reporting period, accounting for 14.4% of global P2P transfers despite representing only 2.5% of the global crypto economy. Domestic P2P transfers in those markets were predominantly small: more than 80% were below $1,000, with an average transfer size of $618 versus $1,210 across the rest of the world.

Stablecoins are playing an increasingly important role across the region, Chainalysis said, with cross-border stablecoin flows exceeding domestic activity in every market analyzed and regional cross-border activity 3.2 times larger than domestic activity. Thailand and Vietnam hosted substantial domestic stablecoin markets, reported at $10.4 billion and $6.9 billion respectively. In the Philippines, industry sources estimated that 5%–10% of inbound remittances are settled using stablecoins, and local banks such as the Bank of the Philippine Islands have announced pilots to use stablecoins to lower costs and speed up payments for overseas workers.