Eugene Ng on Asia’s Crypto Hub Wars: Why Singapore Beat Hong Kong in the Race for Digital Assets Dominance

As Head of Business Development for APAC at Gemini, Eugene Ng had a front-row seat to one of the most consequential competitive battles in global finance: the race to become Asia’s premier cryptocurrency hub. Having spearheaded go-to-market expansion strategies across Australia, Hong Kong, and India, and with over 15 years of experience in traditional finance across Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Citibank, Ng witnessed how regulatory approach, not just geographic advantage, ultimately determined which jurisdiction would capture the lion’s share of Asia’s exploding digital assets market.

The verdict is now clear: Singapore has decisively won the Asian crypto hub war, leaving Hong Kong—once considered the region’s financial capital—struggling to maintain relevance in the digital assets space. The numbers tell a stark story that Eugene Ng saw unfolding in real-time through his work building institutional relationships across the region.

Singapore’s Regulatory Masterstroke

“Singapore has some very thoughtful regulations around cryptocurrency,” Ng explains, drawing from his direct experience establishing Gemini’s operations in the Lion City. “It has always been a very pivotal role in Asia, driving a very thoughtful way of paving for regulated firms like Gemini to operate. And the ethos of Gemini really is to work with regulations. We like regulations. We welcome that.”

This regulatory philosophy has translated into overwhelming market dominance. Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) has approved 30 licensed crypto firms by 2025, including global heavyweights like Coinbase, Crypto.com, OKX, Upbit, and BitGo. The jurisdiction captured 60% of Southeast Asia’s crypto funding in 2023 and secured 10.8% of global crypto venture capital deals in Q2 2024—remarkable statistics for a city-state of 5.9 million people.

Ng’s perspective on Singapore’s success extends beyond mere regulatory clarity to the MAS’s proactive approach. “Rather than reacting to crises, MAS has systematically built comprehensive frameworks covering everything from custody requirements to travel rule implementation,” he observes. This forward-thinking approach attracted Gemini to establish Singapore as its Asian headquarters, making it the first North American exchange to launch bitcoin and ethereum Singapore dollar fiat pairings.

The secret to Singapore’s approach lies in what MAS calls its “same risk, same regulation” philosophy. Instead of creating crypto-specific rules that treat digital assets as fundamentally different, Singapore applies existing financial services regulations appropriately scaled to crypto risks. This provides institutional comfort while maintaining innovation space—exactly what Ng found institutions were seeking.

Hong Kong’s Regulatory Missteps

The contrast with Hong Kong couldn’t be starker. While Singapore approved 13 new crypto licenses in 2024 alone, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission issued only 7 full crypto exchange licenses by end-2024, accompanied by restrictive conditions that major exchanges found operationally unworkable.

Ng witnessed this divergence firsthand as major exchanges like OKX and Bybit withdrew their Hong Kong applications due to operational constraints, while these same firms successfully obtained Singapore licenses. “The larger the institution, there is going to be a lot more of a formal processing, and they’re probably going to move a lot slower,” Ng notes, but Hong Kong’s challenges went beyond bureaucratic pace to fundamental regulatory design flaws.

Hong Kong’s approach suffered from several critical issues. The jurisdiction limited retail investor access to only the largest cryptocurrencies, imposed complex custody requirements that many international firms couldn’t meet, and created compliance burdens that made operations economically unviable for all but the largest players. These restrictions reflected a risk-averse approach that prioritized control over innovation.

The regulatory uncertainty extended to enforcement. While Singapore provided clear guidelines and consistent application, Hong Kong’s regulatory landscape remained murky, with frequent policy shifts that made long-term business planning nearly impossible. For Ng, who spent years building institutional relationships, this uncertainty was particularly damaging to institutional confidence.

The Institutional Advantage Singapore Created

Ng’s experience at Gemini, where Asia became the fastest growing region with a pipeline of $50-75 million in annualized revenue in 2022, illustrates how regulatory clarity drives institutional adoption. “When I first spoke with institutions six months ago, the response was very lukewarm,” he recalls. “Fast forward today, they’re actually sending us a lot of inquiries. It’s all in-bound.”

This institutional transformation wasn’t accidental—it reflected Singapore’s deliberate strategy to position itself as the bridge between traditional finance and digital assets. The MAS’s Project Guardian initiative brought together over 40 global financial institutions for asset tokenization pilots, creating exactly the institutional validation that traditional players needed.

Singapore’s regulatory framework addressed the specific concerns Ng heard repeatedly from institutional clients. “One of the things that they really want to figure out is the custody of the assets—who exactly hold these assets,” he explains. “So that’s the number one concern that most investors have.” Singapore’s clear custody rules and regulatory oversight provided the institutional comfort that Hong Kong’s uncertain framework couldn’t match.

The results speak for themselves. Central and Southern Asia, led by Singapore, attracted over $750 billion in crypto value (16.6% globally), with institutional over-the-counter trading surging 95% year-over-year in H1 2024. Meanwhile, Hong Kong struggled to attract meaningful institutional capital, with most major firms choosing Singapore for their Asian operations.

The Broader Asian Competition

Ng’s regional perspective reveals how Singapore’s victory extends beyond just beating Hong Kong—it reflects a broader Asian competition where regulatory innovation trumps traditional financial center advantages. “I’m not surprised, given that Singapore is positioning itself as a crypto fintech hub in Asia Pacific,” he observes. “So you’re obviously going to be seeing a lot of new entrants and players.”

The UAE has emerged as Singapore’s closest competitor, with Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority processing over 1,000 license applications since November 2023. However, Singapore’s advantage lies in its combination of regulatory clarity, institutional credibility, and strategic geographic position serving both East and Southeast Asian markets.

Other Asian jurisdictions have struggled to compete effectively. Japan maintains restrictive approaches that limit innovation, while South Korea’s regulatory uncertainty has prevented it from capitalizing on its strong domestic crypto adoption. Thailand and the Philippines have focused on enforcement over framework development, missing opportunities to attract international businesses.

Ng’s experience building relationships across the region reveals how institutional investors increasingly concentrate their Asian operations in Singapore due to regulatory certainty. “A lot of these financial institutions feel very much comfortable with Gemini, because of our regulations and the fact that we play by the rules,” he notes, highlighting how Singapore’s approach creates a virtuous cycle of institutional confidence and business growth.

The Network Effects of Regulatory Leadership

Singapore’s regulatory success has created powerful network effects that make its position increasingly unassailable. As more firms establish operations in Singapore, the jurisdiction develops deeper liquidity, more sophisticated infrastructure, and stronger institutional relationships—advantages that compound over time.

The MAS’s proactive international engagement has also positioned Singapore as a leader in global regulatory coordination. The jurisdiction participates actively in Financial Stability Board initiatives, FATF guidelines, and IOSCO recommendations, ensuring its frameworks remain globally compatible while maintaining competitive advantages.

For Ng, who witnessed this transformation from the institutional side, Singapore’s approach represents a masterclass in regulatory competition. “With DBS or another player, we welcomed it,” he says, referring to traditional banks entering crypto. “It’s a very nascent market in early stages. So there’s no real competition and we embrace that.”

Looking Forward: Singapore’s Sustainable Advantage

As the global crypto industry matures, Ng believes Singapore’s regulatory leadership provides sustainable competitive advantages that other Asian jurisdictions will struggle to replicate. The jurisdiction’s combination of clear frameworks, institutional credibility, and innovation support creates what he calls a “regulatory moat” that protects market position even as competition intensifies.

“I feel like that’s a natural progression in diversification and it really increases the Sharpe ratio of any portfolio,” Ng observes about institutional crypto adoption. “And with the innovation that we’re seeing in crypto space today, you don’t just buy bitcoin and hold it—there are so many other use cases.”

Singapore’s victory in Asia’s crypto hub wars wasn’t predetermined by geography or existing financial center status. Instead, it reflected deliberate regulatory choices that prioritized innovation support over risk aversion, institutional comfort over bureaucratic control, and long-term positioning over short-term caution. For practitioners like Eugene Ng who lived through this transformation, Singapore’s success demonstrates how smart regulation can create sustainable competitive advantages in the global digital economy.

The lesson for other Asian jurisdictions is clear: in the race to become regional crypto hubs, regulatory innovation matters more than traditional advantages. Singapore won by embracing the future of finance, while Hong Kong hesitated—and that hesitation cost it the opportunity to lead Asia’s digital assets revolution.