Singapore Director Lisa Ross shares key developments for the crypto market in 2025 and how a second Trump administration might impact it

In this conversation with Lisa, we learn about her experience and how she supports clients at Flint in her role as a Director in the Asia Pacific Region. 

Tell us about your previous experience.

I am a banker and lawyer specialising in financial sector regulation with a focus on new technologies and ESG. I have 13 years of experience in financial services regulation, gained in the industry, legal academia, international law and regulatory advisory firms in Europe and Asia. I have always been passionate about megatrends such as digitalisation and decarbonisation and, more recently, the possible fusions of the two D’s. Understanding the evolution of relevant regulations across regions, learning from different approaches and then working with companies on how they can rethink their business models to participate and remain competitive is truly satisfying.

It is my ninth year in Asia, and navigating the regulatory fragmentation in the Asia Pacific Region is an exciting task, requiring strong policy expertise and a deep local network across the region, which is at the heart of what we are bringing together at Flint Global.

As a Director at Flint, how do you support clients across the Asia Pacific region?

At Flint, I specialise in advising businesses and investors on how to navigate and surmount the policy, political, regulatory and competition challenges they face in the Asia Pacific region and globally.

There are major live policy and regulatory developments across key Asia Pacific jurisdictions, such as in the ESG, crypto and AI space, as each grapples with a challenging global economic picture alongside uncertainty about how newly established political leadership across the world is going to approach a whole range of geopolitical and policy questions. The US under Trump is widely expected to adopt a strong deregulation agenda to which Asia (and Europe) will have to consider how they respond. Together with my team, we are supporting some of the world's leading financial services institutions in tackling these issues.

How do you think a second Trump administration will impact the crypto market in 2025?

In 2025, under Trump, the US is expected to turn from their current ‘regulation by enforcement’ approach to providing straightforward, growth-oriented policies. The shift in the SEC from Gary Gansler to Paul Atkins marks a change to an industry-friendly SEC chair from previous aggressive enforcement actions against crypto firms. It remains to be seen who will lead the CFTC. However, Trump’s nomination of crypto-friendly Howard Lutnick as Commence secretary and co-chair of Trump’s transition team indicates that other positions relevant to crypto regulation will be filled in a similarly industry-friendly manner. In addition, the industry is expecting a shift from SEC’s 2022 dry accounting rule (requiring that institutions holding crypto for customers must treat them as liability under their balance sheet), which differs from the usual practice of accounting custodied assets off-balance sheet. If this rule gets repealed (strongly expected) it would likely lead to banks and asset managers entering the market. There was already one attempt by Congress this summer to repeal the rule. However, this was vetoed by Joe Biden.

In the Asia Pacific region, many regulators have implemented crypto regulation early on to promote innovation while mitigating AML risks.

What are three things to look out for in the crypto market in 2025?

Firstly, the introduction of a digital assets framework in the US will have an impact on crypto policies and regulation globally. Secondly, cryptocurrency is expected to emerge from the sidelines of the financial markets and potentially enter the main stage. However, a rise in crypto-related scams or other failures with overly permissive regulation in the US could result in the pendulum swinging back in favour of regulation in the name of financial stability and consumer protection. Regulators will be watching closely to see how potential AML risks spill over to other parts of the financial services ecosystem. Thirdly, the two global financial centres in Asia, Singapore and Hong Kong, will be interesting to observe. While Singapore's crypto framework today is more focused on consumer protection and financial stability, Hong Kong is increasingly moving towards a more permissive framework. If the US develops a credible permissive framework, the developments in Hong Kong could also lead to adjustments in Singapore.

If you are interested in further content looking at regulation in all major crypto hubs worldwide, watch out for these publications: ‘Cryptocurrencies in National Laws - A Global Survey’ by Brill Publisher and a comparison with the EU's MiCAR regulation by Schmidt Verlag, both due to be published in the first quarter of 2025. I was one of two special rapporteurs for Singapore on crypto for the International Academy of Comparative Law´s (IACL) General Congress and, therefore, have contributed to both collections of a comprehensive analysis of the laws and regulations governing digital assets in Singapore.