FOMO Pay, a Singapore-based fintech company, announced today that it has obtained a license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to provide Digital Payment Token Service — the first such approval out of 170 applicants for the city-state that is rapidly becoming a global crypto hub.
Fast facts
- FOMO Pay said it had been granted, starting today, new licenses from the Singapore to operate three regulated activities — Merchant Acquisition Service, Domestic Money Transfer Service and Digital Payment Token (DPT) Service, which applies to cryptocurrencies.
- A DPT Service license allows its holder to facilitate transactions with digital payment tokens, including cryptocurrencies and Singapore’s future central bank digital currency (CBDC). The other two licenses will permit FOMO Pay to conduct local money transfer services in Singapore as well as process payments for merchants online and off-line.
- With the licenses, FOMO Pay will be able to conduct four out of seven regulated activities under the Payment Services Act (PS Act). The company had earlier obtained a Cross-border Money Transfer Service license. The company says the licenses will help it expand its suite of payment services for its clients — which include large corporations as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs) — in Singapore and the region.
- FOMO Pay was founded in 2015 and started by helping online and offline merchants to connect to digital payment methods, including e-wallets and credit cards. Today, the company serves over 10,000 merchants in retail, telecom, tourism and hospitality, food and beverage (F&B), education and e-commerce.
- FOMO Pay’s license to provide digital payment token service follows a series of in-principal approval notifications by Singapore to applicants such as Australian cryptocurrency exchange Independent Reserve and DBS Vickers, the brokerage arm of Singapore’s DBS Bank. Under a law that came into effect in January 2020, providers of digital token payment services — including cryptocurrency exchanges — must be licensed. According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, 170 license applications by digital payment token service providers have been submitted. Cryptocurrency exchanges such as Binance, Coinbase and Gemini currently operate in Singapore under an exemption as part of transitional arrangements. The exemption allows entities to provide services while their license applications are being processed.
- According to the MAS website, only one Major Payment Institution license to provide DPT Service has been granted as of publishing time.