Malaysia, Thailand join Singapore’s cross
RWA Signal Insight
InfrastructureThe Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has expanded its BLOOM initiative by welcoming Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand as policymaker members. Launched in October 2025, BLOOM—an acronym for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency—is designed to streamline cross-border payments by facilitating the use of stablecoins and tokenized deposits among financial institutions. By establishing a standardized framework, the initiative aims to reduce the operational costs and complexities associated with bilateral arrangements between individual market participants. The project builds upon the foundational research of Project Orchid, which began in 2021 to explore the utility of a digital Singapore dollar. Beyond basic payments, the initiative encompasses corporate cash management, trade finance, and automated transactions executed by AI agents. Major industry players including Mastercard, Visa, Ripple, and the World Bank Group are already participating in the ecosystem. This regional collaboration signals a significant shift toward institutionalizing tokenized assets for wholesale cross-border settlement in Southeast Asia.
Key points
- Bank Negara Malaysia and Bank of Thailand joined the MAS-led BLOOM initiative.
- BLOOM facilitates cross-border payments using stablecoins and tokenized deposits for financial institutions.
- Participants include major global entities like Mastercard, Visa, Ripple, and the World Bank.
- Malaysia plans to test ringgit-backed stablecoins for wholesale payments starting in 2026.
Background
BLOOM is a public-private initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to create a standardized infrastructure for tokenized assets. It evolves from Project Orchid, a long-term research effort focused on the technical and policy requirements for digital currencies and programmable money. The initiative seeks to solve the fragmentation of cross-border payment rails by providing a unified framework for institutional stablecoin and deposit usage.