Four PillarsFour PillarsAsia Digital Asset Policy Center

Topics · Domains

Onchain capital markets.

Trading venues, brokers and custodians were the first crypto businesses to be licensed in Asia, and they remain the most heavily supervised.

The frontier is moving to tokenised securities, leverage and the plumbing underneath: when a trade is final, and which ledger counts as the record of ownership.

Which markets in Asia have exchange licensing?

Across the 31 markets Four Pillars tracks in full, as of 15 Oct 2026: Comprehensive (16): Bahrain, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, UAE and Uzbekistan. Partial (8): Australia, Bhutan, India, Israel, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan and Turkey. Developing (5): Cambodia, Jordan, Oman, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. Prohibited (2): China and Qatar.

Which markets in Asia have tokenisation and real-world asset rules?

Across the 31 markets Four Pillars tracks in full, as of 15 Oct 2026: Comprehensive (4): Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and UAE. Partial (11): Australia, Bahrain, Bermuda, Bhutan, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Qatar, Taiwan and Thailand. Developing (13): Cambodia, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Restricted (3): China, India and Vietnam.

Exchanges and brokerageLicensing and conduct rules for trading platforms, brokers and dealers.31 of 31 markets · 255 sourcesCustody and client assetsHow client crypto must be held, segregated and protected.24 of 31 markets · 80 sourcesTokenisation and securitiesSecurity tokens, tokenised funds and real-world assets.26 of 31 markets · 88 sourcesDerivatives and leverageFutures, perpetuals, margin trading and leverage caps.13 of 31 markets · 24 sourcesClearing, settlement finality and registry of recordWhen a trade is final and which ledger is the legal record.14 of 31 markets · 31 sources

Primary sources per market and subtopic

ExchangesCustodyTokenisationDerivativesClearing