The central banks of Malaysia and Thailand are now part of Singapore's BLOOM initiative, which aims to advance cross-border payments using stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on Friday that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined as policymaker members. The project includes major players like Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, and the World Bank Group, along with Circle, Coinbase, JPMorgan, Standard Chartered, and Stripe.
Launched in October last year, BLOOM brings together banks and tech firms to test payments using tokenized bank money and regulated stablecoins. Singapore has also separately tested a wholesale central bank digital currency. Ripple, for instance, has been involved since March, testing trade payments using RLUSD on the XRP Ledger through a partnership with supply chain fintech firm Unloq.
The initiative will explore how banks manage different forms of digital money for cross-border transactions, interoperability between networks, and safeguards like identity checks and sanctions screening. MAS Deputy Managing Director Leong Sing Chiong emphasized that the future of finance will involve multiple forms of digital money operating across different institutions and markets.
Bank Negara Malaysia Deputy Governor Aznan bin Abdul Aziz noted that cross-border payments using multiple forms of digital money are becoming more feasible. Meanwhile, Bank of Thailand's Deputy Governor Daranee Saeju highlighted that BLOOM will help examine regulatory approaches to tokenized money, particularly in cross-border payments and wholesale settlement.