Encrypted Three Cities

Author: Shenchao TechFlow

Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai.

In the big game of the global crypto industry, three cities are competing for industry voice and talent resources in different postures.

Singapore's strict supervision has made the former utopia fade away, Hong Kong's policy opening has set off a wave of return, while Dubai has become an emerging crypto oasis with the "zero tax burden + open supervision" model.

These three crypto highlands are the dream habitats of the crypto industry, but now they are standing at the intersection of destiny. Regulatory iron fist, capital flow, Web3 ambition, who will have the last laugh in this "Three Cities Story"?

Singapore: Once a romantic

Singapore, this small island known as the "Lion City", was once a utopia in the eyes of countless crypto dreamers.

Today, Singapore's crypto circle is shrouded in a "compliance fog".

In June 2025, the Financial Administration (MAS) issued a final explanation requiring unlicensed digital token service providers (DTSPs) to stop providing services to overseas customers by June 30, and even core teams’ overseas projects in Singapore must undergo regulatory scrutiny by MAS.

The policy is still unclear and people are panicking for a while.

Since then, Singapore MAS has used both soft and hard work, while appeased and toughened the offshore exchanges.

MAS released its latest explanation stating that the main object of supervision is Tokens, the so-called digital payment tokens and tokens of capital market products, that is, payment tokens or equity tokens. For service providers of governance tokens and functional tokens, they are not affected by regulations and do not need to apply for a license.

Additionally, Singapore regulators issued a final warning urging major cryptocurrency trading platforms operating in the country but not holding local licenses to exit quickly, according to Bloomberg.

According to Shenchao TechFlow, many crypto exchanges with Singapore as their base have begun to evacuate plans and move core personnel to Hong Kong, Malaysia and other places one after another.

However, it was already a trend for crypto practitioners to escape Singapore long before policy panic.

"It's too expensive to afford it." Even XIN, a senior crypto practitioner, feels that living in Singapore is too expensive.

"A better apartment on Orchard Road costs about 5,000 yuan (25,000 yuan). This cost alone has caused a headache for many people, but more importantly, it is much more difficult to make money this year."

In the view of crypto practitioner Adam, Singapore has attracted a large number of practitioners in the past. On the one hand, it is Singapore's security and institutional guarantees, and on the other hand, everyone can make money. Cover (cover) costs, whether it is the project party, exchange or VC, it can get a share of the bull market. However, this cycle seems to belong only to Bitcoin. A large number of altcoin projects have broken the issuance, and crypto VCs have lost all their money. It is better to stock up on Bitcoin than toss hard. Staying in Singapore has lost its meaning in addition to increasing costs.

Qin, who has lived in Singapore for several years, also observed that more and more people have left Singapore in the past year. An obvious phenomenon is that many previously active Singapore hiking groups have become silent.

With the impact of this policy, many practitioners will leave one after another. So who will continue to stay in Singapore?

1. According to the official information of Singapore Mas website, 24 companies including COBO, ANTALPHA, CEFFU, MATRIXPORT are on the exemption list, and 33 companies including BITGO, CIRCLE, COINBASE, GSR, Hashkey, OKX SG have obtained DTSP licenses.

2. Practitioners with non-licensed requirements, such as crypto VC, KOL, non-securities and payment token project parties... However, most of the above personnel are founders and executives, or those who have obtained Singapore PR and settled in Singapore.

To sum up, Singapore has implemented their talent strategy to attract people who are sufficiently compliant and high net worth.

Hong Kong: The craze is surging

Leaving Singapore, where is the new crypto hot land?

Hong Kong and Dubai may be the answers to the two major versions of the current answers.

After the final explanation of Singapore DTSP was announced, Hong Kong Legislative Council member Wu Jiezhuang immediately issued a bilingual statement on social media, saying: " If you cannot continue to develop in Singapore and are interested in moving to Hong Kong, please contact me for relevant situations. We are willing to provide assistance, welcome to develop in Hong Kong!"

The night view of Victoria Harbor is still dazzling, but Hong Kong's financial story is ushering in a new chapter.

With the listing of Circle, Hong Kong's promotion of stablecoin supervision has brought the attention of various capitals back to the foot of the Lion Mountain.

On May 21, 2025, the Hong Kong "Stable Coin Issuers Bill" was officially passed, requiring stablecoin issuers to be licensed and reserve assets are 100% backed by high liquidity assets. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) even holds extraterritorial jurisdiction to regulate global Hong Kong dollar-pegged stablecoins.

On June 12, according to Bloomberg, Ant Group's international department is planning to apply for a stablecoin license in Hong Kong.

In addition to the more innovative and clear crypto policies, Hong Kong's current macro environment is improving unprecedentedly compared to being ridiculed as a "financial site" in the past few years.

The well-known financial media Gelong Huigelong shared several sets of data:

1. The level of residential rent in Hong Kong has hit a record high;

2. The number of people in Hong Kong and the United States (representative data of foreigners in Hong Kong) hit a new high. Before the epidemic, there were 85,000, and 2023. The epidemic ended and there were 70,000 left. Now the latest data has exceeded 85,000;

3. The registration fee charged by the University of Hong Kong in one year (not admission, but application fee) has reached 800 million.

LD CAPITAL founder Yi Li and Chemistry has lived and worked in Singapore and Hong Kong for a long time, but he admitted that he likes Hong Kong more and will be based in Hong Kong for a long time in the future.

"Hong Kong has many advantages, such as more food, better climate, closer to the mainland, and more friendly policies. In addition, a very important point is that it is easier to get an identity in Hong Kong than in Singapore. If you wait for the deadline, you will give it. Singapore still needs to apply again and again. Staying in China forever, I think it is a better choice for future generations to continue to be Chinese. " Yi Lihua said.

More and more crypto practitioners choose to move from Singapore to Hong Kong. According to insiders, TRON founder Justin Sun also moved from Singapore to Hong Kong for a long time to settle down.

Compared with the rise and fall of the popularity of the two cities, an obvious indicator is the rent level.

According to Midland Realty data, in May 2024, residential rents in Hong Kong rose for three consecutive months, reaching the highest level since 2019.

Hong Kong's Central Plains City Rent Index (CRI) showed that it was reported in May this year at 125.38, soaring 1.32% month-on-month, the largest increase in nine months, and only 2.05% lower than the historical high.

In contrast, in the first half of 2024, Singapore's high-quality private home rents fell by 4.5%, the largest drop among the 30 cities in the world.

Dubai: "Shenzhen" in the Middle East

In addition to Singapore and Hong Kong in East Asia, Dubai, this "on-chain desert oasis" is reshaping the territory of crypto-power at the speed of rockets.

“Zero personal income tax, corporate tax as low as 0-9%, relatively reasonable cost of living, more international,” a practitioner who has lived and worked in Dubai for 2 years lists the city’s appeal, “More importantly, the regulators here really understand and embrace crypto innovation.”

In 2025, the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) further optimized regulatory rules and adopted the "sandbox-adaptation-extended" model to provide clearer legal protections for virtual asset service providers (VASPs).

As early as 2024, Dubai had gathered more than 1,400 blockchain startups with a total valuation of US$24.5 billion, forming a complete ecosystem of more than 90 investment funds and 12 incubators.

According to Chainalysis data, Dubai's crypto industry contributes approximately AED 100 billion (USD 27.25 billion) of output value, accounting for 4.3% of the UAE's GDP.

In May 2025, UAE state-owned investment company MGX invested US$2 billion in Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, which is a clear signal.

Snow, a senior investor in the crypto industry, has lived in Dubai for a long time. "There are many opportunities" being the core reason for her choice of Dubai. In her opinion, all aspects of the Middle East are not as perfect as Singapore and Hong Kong. Many of them are not perfect in terms of legal systems or infrastructure, but the more imperfect the place, the more opportunities there are.

Dubai, like Shenzhen at the beginning of the last century, flocked to all over the world, just for the initial dream - to make money.

"In addition to the Middle East, the most common people in Dubai are Europeans, Russians, Indians, and Chinese... Everyone comes to discuss business and make money. If you make money, you will buy a house in Dubai or return to China."

Nancy, a Dubai-based real estate agency, continues to witness the crazy rise in Dubai's housing market. According to a recent report by global commercial real estate services company CBRE, Dubai's residential prices rose by 18% in 2024, and by the first quarter of 2025, the figure reached 20%.

The cryptocurrency upstart is an important force supporting the Dubai housing market.

“In the past few years, cryptocurrency wealthy people from China have purchased a large number of buildings in Dubai,” Nancy said.

Previously, Damac Properties, the largest private real estate developer in Dubai, announced that it would accept payments for sale of properties such as cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Today, Dubai is also the most important experimental field for real estate RWA.

On May 1, Dubai-based MultiBank Group, real estate giant MAG and blockchain provider Mavryk signed a $3 billion RWA agreement that will enable MAG's luxury real estate projects to enter blockchain through the regulated RWA market.

On May 25, the Dubai Land Sector (DLD), the United Arab Emirates Central Bank and the Dubai Future Foundation launched a tokenized real estate project in the Middle East and North Africa. These government agencies have launched a platform that allows investors to buy tokenized shares of "Dubai ready-to-own properties".

Due to its friendly regulatory measures, Dubai is currently the base of many exchanges, and the leader is Binance, the largest cryptocurrency trading platform.

Binance has a relatively special status in Dubai and the entire Middle East.

"Binance is a very useful identity tag in Dubai. Former employees, Binance invested companies, Binance partners... are all very high-quality identity endorses. Even if not, many people will take advantage of it and say that they know a certain Binance executive." Nancy introduced that it may be the aggregation effect brought by Binance, which has led to Dubai becoming an important information and project resource trading center in the crypto market. A large number of shell resources of cryptocurrency projects and other market makers are trading in Dubai.

In addition to exchange staff, Dubai has also gathered a large number of well-known crypto KOLs. For example, Coin Bureau studio with 2.68 million fans on Youtube is in Dubai.

However, Dubai also faces its own challenges.

The extreme heat in summer, cultural differences, limitations of banking services, and geopolitical uncertainty are potential concerns. “Dubai is great, but it is not an ideal choice for everyone,” Nancy admitted. “Many people just want to make money in Dubai and leave after making enough money. Dubai is not suitable for life. In comparison, Abu Dhabi has a more lifelike atmosphere.”

In addition, the differences in Dubai's culture and time zone may also become an obstacle to expanding the Asian market, which is a bridge connecting Europe, Asia and Africa, while Hong Kong is the gateway to Asia, especially the Chinese market.

Singapore's regulation is tightened, Hong Kong's policy is revived, Dubai's rapid rise, and the three cities of cryptocurrency work together to form a special pattern: Hong Kong is the gateway to Asia, especially the Chinese market, and Dubai connects Europe, Asia and Africa, while Singapore may be repositioned as a more compliant and institutionalized cryptocurrency asset management center.

Whether it is the brilliant night view of Victoria Harbor, the magnificent landscape of Dubai Tower, or the modern architecture of Singapore Marina Bay, the skylines of these cities are witnessing the arrival of a new era of crypto finance.