Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand central banks expand cross-border stablecoin initiative

cross-border stablecoin initiative — The central banks of Malaysia and Thailand have formally joined Singapore’s BLOOM initiative, expanding a major project for cross-border settlement using stablecoins and tokenized deposits.

The collaboration, which also involves payments giants Ripple, Visa, and Mastercard, aims to develop a shared infrastructure for settling international payments and foreign exchange transactions. The project seeks to improve the speed and reduce the cost of cross-border transfers between the three Southeast Asian economies.

Singapore’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), launched the BLOOM initiative earlier this year to explore the use of digital assets for wholesale settlements. The inclusion of Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand marks a significant expansion of the program’s scope and potential impact.

The involvement of established financial networks like Visa and Mastercard alongside blockchain-focused firms like Ripple indicates a hybrid approach, blending traditional and decentralized finance rails. The initiative represents a growing trend among central banks to pilot digital asset infrastructure for regional trade and finance.