On November 3, New York-based cryptocurrency trading and custody platform Paxos declared that the firm has gotten a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), making it the first crypto player to catch regulatory approval in both Singapore and New York. 

Circle got on an in-principle approval for a major payments institution license, allowing it to issue cryptocurrencies and enable domestic and cross-border payments, while Paxos received its license to offer digital payment token services. 

Co-founder and CEO of Circle, Jeremy Allaire, added the license “in one of the world’s leading financial hubs” will be “instrumental to Circle's regional and global expansion plans in raising global economic prosperity.” 

Paxos Asia CEO Rich Teo was also excited about its approval, “We’re excited to have MAS as our regulator, and with their oversight, we’ll be able to safely accelerate consumer adoption of digital assets globally in partnership with the world’s biggest enterprises.” 

Crypto companies of a specific size will generally be in a steady pattern of license shopping, particularly in strategically significant monetary centers like Singapore, the United States, and Switzerland. 

Paxos, which was one of the first crypto firms to be regulated by the New York Department of Financial Services and holds a limited purpose trust charter for digital assets in the U.S., has actually had a presence in Singapore since 2012, said Rich Teo, the CEO & co-founder of Paxos Asia. 

“It’s almost 10 years actually since we were first incorporated and established in Singapore, so throughout history, we’ve always been a little bit New York, a little bit Singapore as well,” Teo told CoinDesk in an interview. 

Accomplishing a crypto license from the MAS is no simple task with 100 or so candidates having been dismissed, Nikkei Asia detailed toward the end of last year. Up until this point, only a small bunch of firms have acquired crypto licenses, including DBS Vickers Securities, which is a unit of DBS Bank of Singapore. 

“We’re not the very first, but I think if there is a preference, it comes down to regulatory compliance being part of our DNA,” Teo said.