Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined Singapore's BLOOM initiative as policymaker members. The project aims to help financial institutions use stablecoins and tokenized deposits for cross-border payments. Crypto Briefing notes the two banks are helping shape standards, not switching on live stablecoin rails tomorrow.
Malaysia's and Thailand's central banks joined Singapore's BLOOM initiative on Friday as policymaker members. The move adds two central banks to a project built to move stablecoin and tokenized deposit payments across borders.
What BLOOM sets out to do
BLOOM stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency. Cointelegraph describes it as a public-private initiative that intends to help financial institutions use stablecoins and tokenized deposits for cross-border payments.
According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore, BLOOM aims to cut costs and help institutions bring services to market faster by reducing the need to set up arrangements with each counterparty or market. Crypto Briefing adds that the initiative is wholesale rather than retail, targeting trade finance and corporate treasury operations.
From Project Orchid to a wider membership
MAS launched BLOOM in October 2025, building on Project Orchid, which began in 2021 to explore uses for a digital Singapore dollar. BLOOM's work also covers corporate cash management, trade finance and payments executed by AI agents within predefined limits.
Cointelegraph lists Airwallex, Mastercard, Ripple, Visa and the World Bank Group among the participants. Crypto Briefing names Circle, DBS and Stripe among the firms involved.
Malaysia was already moving on its own. Bank Negara Malaysia announced in February that three initiatives would test ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits for domestic and cross-border wholesale payments in 2026.
Membership is not deployment
Crypto Briefing notes that the two banks are helping shape standards rather than switching on live stablecoin rails. The same outlet expects wider Southeast Asian engagement, with more collaboration among payment networks, multilateral organizations and private firms.
Sources: Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing
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