The central banks of Malaysia and Thailand have joined Singapore's BLOOM initiative, which helps banks move money between countries using stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The move came on Friday, October 23. For a region with huge remittance flows, it is a step from isolated pilots toward shared rules.
What exactly changed?
Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand became BLOOM members on the regulator side. Until now the project was run by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and private companies. Three central banks from one region now sit at the same table.
The name stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency. MAS launched the initiative in October 2025. It grew out of Project Orchid, which began in 2021 to study a digital Singapore dollar.
How does it work in practice?
Today an international payment travels through a chain of correspondent banks. Each link takes a fee and adds time. A tokenized deposit is a digital version of an ordinary bank deposit recorded on a blockchain. A stablecoin such as USDC is a token pegged to the dollar.
According to MAS, BLOOM should cut costs and speed up service launches, because a bank will not need to negotiate separately with every counterparty or market. The initiative covers four areas.
- Cross-border payments through stablecoins and tokenized deposits instead of a long correspondent chain.
- Corporate cash management, when a company holds funds in several currencies.
- Trade finance, meaning guarantees and settlement for shipments.
- Payments made by AI agents within limits set in advance.
Who is already in?
Participants include Airwallex, Mastercard, Ripple, Visa and the World Bank Group. Payment giants work next to regulators. It is not Ripple's first visit to the Singapore sandbox, since the company earlier tested its RLUSD stablecoin there in trade finance.
Malaysia did not come empty-handed. In February Bank Negara Malaysia announced three initiatives that will test ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits for domestic and cross-border wholesale payments during 2026. Reports did not mention similar plans for Thailand.
Why does it matter outside Asia?
The rules matter here more than the technology. While regulators in different countries agree on shared infrastructure, banks get clear conditions instead of a gray zone. Blurry responsibility was long the main argument against stablecoins at large financial institutions.
At Kurslog we see the flip side every day. Ordinary users have moved money through stablecoins for years, with no initiatives at all. A freelancer paid by a foreign client in USDT usually heads to an exchanger to sell USDT for hryvnia. Banks are only starting to build their own rails for that scenario.
What to watch next?
The reports give no launch dates, and that is worth remembering. All we know is that the circle of regulators has grown. Two signals come next. Will the first commercial transfers between the three countries appear? And will the results of Malaysia's tests feed into shared standards?
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