Malaysia and Thailand's central banks join Singapore's BLOOM stablecoin payments push, where Ripple, Visa and Mastercard already sit

Summary

Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined the Monetary Authority of Singapore's BLOOM initiative as policymaker members on Friday, Oct. 23, Cointelegraph and The Block reported, with The Block saying MAS confirmed the move.

BLOOM (Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency) is a public-private effort launched by MAS in October 2025 to help financial institutions use regulated stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits for cross-border payments, both outlets said.

Participants include Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, Airwallex and the World Bank Group, per Cointelegraph, and The Block also listed Circle, Coinbase, JPMorgan, Standard Chartered and Stripe.

The Block said MAS's work will focus on how banks handle different forms of digital money across borders, how networks interoperate, and safeguards such as identity checks, sanctions screening and transaction controls.

Key facts

• Ripple said in March it would test trade payments using its RLUSD stablecoin on the XRP Ledger within BLOOM, in a trial with supply-chain fintech Unloq, The Block reported. (The Block)
• "The future of finance will involve multiple forms of digital money operating across different institutions and markets," MAS Deputy Managing Director Leong Sing Chiong said, per The Block. (The Block)
• Cointelegraph said BLOOM builds on Project Orchid, begun in 2021 to explore a digital Singapore dollar, and also covers corporate cash management, trade finance and payments executed by AI agents within set limits. (Cointelegraph)
• Bank Negara Malaysia said in February that three initiatives would test ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits for wholesale payments in 2026, Cointelegraph reported. (Cointelegraph)

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