Malaysia and Thailand join Singapore’s BLOOM cross-border stablecoin initiative

24 Oct 2026

24 Oct 2026, 01:55 UTC+02:00

Southeast Asia’s central banks are lining up behind a shared stablecoin payments framework. Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined Singapore’s BLOOM initiative on Friday as policymaker members, according to Cointelegraph.

What BLOOM is

BLOOM stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency. It is a public and private initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to help financial institutions use stablecoins and tokenized deposits for cross-border payments. MAS says the goal is to lower costs and speed up new services by reducing the need for each institution to set up separate arrangements with every counterparty or market.

MAS launched BLOOM in October 2025, building on Project Orchid, which started in 2021 to explore uses for a digital Singapore dollar. The work also covers corporate cash management, trade finance and payments executed by AI agents within predefined limits. Participants include Airwallex, Mastercard, Ripple, Visa and the World Bank Group.

Why Malaysia and Thailand matter

Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are tightly linked trading partners, and cross-border payments between them still pass through correspondent banks. Having both central banks in the same framework makes regional stablecoin settlement more realistic. Bank Negara Malaysia already announced in February that three initiatives would test ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits for domestic and cross-border wholesale payments during 2026.

The move fits a wider pattern. Banks in Hong Kong, South Korea and Europe are building regulated stablecoins and deposit tokens, while dollar stablecoins such as USDT and USDC dominate retail crypto trading.

What it means for traders

• Regulated stablecoins are coming: local currency coins backed by banks could eventually appear on exchanges as trading pairs or on-ramps.
• Ripple ecosystem angle: Ripple’s presence in BLOOM is often cited by XRP holders, but participation in a framework does not mean XRP itself is used.
• Pick supported venues: stablecoin support differs by exchange and region. Check our exchange comparison and our testing methodology.

Sources

• Cointelegraph: Malaysia, Thailand join Singapore's cross-border stablecoin push

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