How to deposit SGD into a crypto exchange

Funding a crypto account from Singapore is a bank-transfer problem with a MAS-shaped checklist in front of it. You are not wiring US dollars to an offshore broker. You are sending Singapore dollars, over PayNow or FAST, to a Major Payment Institution (MPI) whose Unique Entity Number (UEN) should match the Monetary Authority of Singapore directory.

This is the mechanical guide. It assumes you have already looked the firm up. If you have not, stop and read how to choose a MAS-licensed crypto exchange. Sending S$5,000 to a cloned UEN is not a fees issue.

Nothing here is a recommendation to buy a token. A successful deposit only means the rail worked.

Before any QR code

Do these in order, on one platform, not three.

1. Confirm the legal name on the Financial Institutions Directory — Independent Reserve SG Pte. Ltd., SBI Coinhako Technology Pte. Ltd. (formerly Hako Technology), Coinbase Singapore Pte. Ltd., Foris DAX Asia Pte. Ltd., OKX SG Pte. Ltd. or Gemini Digital Payments Singapore, Pte. Ltd., if you are using one of the retail books we cover.
2. Finish Singpass Myinfo, or the manual passport path if you do not have Singpass yet.
3. Pass the risk-awareness assessment. Independent Reserve and its peers will not credit a first deposit until you do.
4. Turn on two-factor authentication.
5. Open the in-app SGD deposit screen and copy the UEN, payee name and reference from there. Do not reuse a UEN you found on a blog or in a Telegram chat.

Only then open DBS, OCBC, UOB, Standard Chartered, Trust or Citibank.

PayNow: UEN and QR

PayNow is how most retail SGD arrives. The exchange sits behind a corporate UEN. You are not paying someone’s mobile number.

In the exchange app, choose Deposit, SGD, PayNow. You will see a QR code and, usually, a fallback of entity name, UEN and a unique reference or deposit code. In your bank app, choose PayNow to UEN, or scan the QR. Confirm the payee name — Independent Reserve SG, the current Coinhako / Hako Technology string, Coinbase, Foris, OKX, Gemini — matches the screen. Paste the reference. Send.

Bank-specific niggles, from the platforms’ own help pages:

• DBS/POSB. PayNow to UEN. The deposit code goes in “UEN/Bill reference No.” A new payee without a token is often capped at S$1,000 a day. Save the UEN and use a digital token if you intend to send more.
• OCBC. Transfer and Payment, then UEN. The payee list may still show an old legal name after a rename (Coinhako’s move off Hako Technology is the current example). Match the UEN, not the nostalgia. Put the deposit code in the message field if that is what the exchange asked for.
• UOB. PayNow, then UEN. Enter UEN, deposit code and amount. Slide to confirm. Limits rise after you save the payee and approve with a token.
• Standard Chartered and Citibank. One-time PayNow caps are tight (often S$1,000). QR plus token, or a saved recipient, raises them. Read your own bank’s ceiling; the exchange cannot override it.
• Trust. Supported on some platforms (Gemini lists it for PayNow). If your bank is not in the exchange’s PayNow list, use FAST instead.

PayNow deposits are typically S$0 on the licensed retail books. Independent Reserve, Coinhako, Coinbase, Crypto.com, OKX and Gemini all advertise free PayNow in. Your bank does not charge you to send PayNow to a UEN.

There is no PayNow out on these platforms. Getting SGD home is a FAST problem, covered below.

FAST, when PayNow is the wrong tool

FAST is the bank-to-bank rail. You add the exchange as a beneficiary: name, bank, account number, sometimes a branch. Coinbase gives you an account number unique to your profile and says you do not need an extra reference. Crypto.com and Independent Reserve give you beneficiary details and still care about the reference on some flows. Always prefer the on-screen instructions over a remembered pattern.

Use FAST when:

• the exchange’s PayNow option is missing on your build of the app;
• your bank is not in the PayNow-supported list (Gemini, for example, lists DBS/POSB, OCBC, Standard Chartered, Trust and UOB for PayNow and sends everyone else to FAST);
• you are sending a size your PayNow daily cap will not allow, and your FAST cap will.

Independent Reserve charges S$2.50 for FAST deposits below S$1,000 and waives the fee at S$1,000 and above. Most of the others treat FAST deposits as free. If you are funding IR with S$800, PayNow is cheaper than FAST.

Do not use GIRO, a delayed standing instruction, an ATM cash deposit or an over-the-counter bank transfer “to be helpful”. Coinhako and others will refund those and keep about S$2. FAST and PayNow are near-instant; GIRO is a different system.

Name-match, or why the money comes back

Every MPI will try to match the sending account name to the name on your KYC. Singpass makes that name official. The match is conservative.

A refund is not instant at your end even when the exchange says “30 minutes”. Budget up to a business day, and do not send a second transfer “to see if it works” while the first is in flight.

If you use a joint account as your only bank, ask the exchange in writing, before you send, whether they will accept it. Do not test with S$10,000.

Card versus bank

A debit-card instant-buy is a purchase, not a deposit. The SGD never sits in your exchange wallet; the token does. The quote includes spread and a card-scheme fee. On a S$500 buy that bundled cost is usually worse than PayNow plus a limit order.

Locally issued credit and charge cards are the rail MAS has told DPT service providers not to take from retail customers. Coinbase’s help text limits Singapore credit cards to verified accredited investors. Other platforms have removed the button. Do not plan a retail strategy around a credit line. If the value drops, you still owe the bank.

GrabPay on Coinhako is listed at 2.8%. That is a convenience tax for people without a usable bank. If you have a DBS account, you do not have that problem.

The cheap path on every book we review is: PayNow or FAST into the SGD wallet, then a spot or limit order. See the retail exchange comparison for which MPI to do that on; the rail is the same idea everywhere.

Getting SGD back: FAST out, typically S$0 to S$2

Assume you will want the money home. The first withdrawal is the one that teaches you whether the rail works.

Rules that repeat across licensees:

• You generally must have deposited SGD from a bank before you can withdraw SGD to that bank. Crypto.com states this outright.
• First withdrawals often sit in a manual review of minutes to one–three business days. After that, FAST is usually seconds.
• PayNow withdrawals are not offered. Independent Reserve and Gemini say so explicitly.
• Typical published FAST-out fees as of October 2026: Coinbase often S$0; OKX has advertised S$0 via DBS; Independent Reserve about S$1.50 below S$200,000; Crypto.com S$1.99 (minimum S$50); Coinhako S$2; Gemini S$3. Large IR withdrawals (S$200,000 and up) jump to S$20.

A S$50 or S$100 test withdrawal after your first trade is worth the fee. Do it on a weekday afternoon, not at 11pm before a bill is due.

Token withdrawals are a different event: network fee, travel-rule fields, a possible hold on a new address. Do not confuse a bitcoin withdrawal with getting SGD back.

A boring sequence that works

Look up the MPI. Finish Singpass and the quiz. Copy the UEN from the app. Send S$50 PayNow from your own bank with the reference pasted. Wait for the credit. Place a small order if that was the point. FAST S$20 home. Keep the bank SMS and the exchange receipt.

If that loop works, you have a funded, licensed rail. If it fails, fix the specific bounce — name, reference, bank type — before you raise the amount. The Independent Reserve and Coinhako reviews are the two most detailed fee pages if you want a single platform to practise on.

Licence status and fee tables change. The directory and the in-app deposit screen, on the day you send, are the sources that matter. A screenshot from this article is not a UEN.