Coinbase Makes Bold Asian Move: Singapore Launch Marks First Expansion Beyond US Borders

Breaking the American mold—Coinbase plants its flag in Singapore.

The crypto giant's Asian gambit puts Wall Street on notice: digital assets are going global, whether traditional finance likes it or not.

No more baby steps—this is full-throttle international domination.

Singapore's pro-crypto stance made it the obvious choice—unlike certain regulators still debating whether Bitcoin is 'magic internet money.'

One question remains: Which legacy financial hub will Coinbase disrupt next?

Coinbase Business, unveiled today, offers Singaporean startups and small-to-medium businesses a crypto operating account designed to streamline global finance through crypto trading, instant payment settlement, and stablecoin-powered transactions that eliminate chargebacks and reduce fees.

Coinbase Business Singapore will operate in partnership with Standard Chartered, which provides a strategic banking relationship facilitating seamless real-time Singapore dollar transfers for both retail and business customers.

"The future of B2B payments is built on faster, cheaper, and more programmable rails - and that foundation is crypto," Sid Coelho-Prabhu, head of business at Coinbase, said in a statement. "We've engineered a powerful yet simple technical stack that unifies payment rails, asset management, and financial reporting into a single platform."

The service enables businesses to conduct frictionless onchain payments to vendors, contractors, and employees internationally using stablecoins like USDC and XSGD, offering significantly lower costs and near-instant settlement speeds. Companies can also collect payments from customers instantly and globally.

Additional features include integrated portfolio management for buying, selling, and exchanging crypto assets directly from operating accounts, along with no-fee onboarding and direct accounting reconciliation support for platforms including Quickbooks and Xero.

"Singapore has firmly established itself as a global leader in digital innovation and a crucial hub for the future of finance in Asia," said Hassan Ahmed, country director for Singapore at Coinbase. "Bringing Coinbase Business here is a testament to our commitment to supporting the region's dynamic and rapidly scaling business community."

The platform is currently accepting applications from eligible Singapore-based companies for early access.

The launch follows Coinbase's October 2025 announcement of its participation in the Monetary Authority of Singapore's BLOOM Initiative (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency), where the company is contributing to the "Agentic Payments" workstream focused on the future of digital asset settlement.