Two major Southeast Asian central banks have officially aligned with Singapore. Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Bank of Thailand (BoT) joined the BLOOM initiative as policymaking members on Friday, October 23, 2026. The participation of the two monetary authorities broadens the regional cross-border framework for digital financial instruments.
Project BLOOM - an acronym for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency - is a public-private partnership led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The collaborative framework is designed to facilitate the use of stablecoins and tokenized deposits in cross-border payment transactions.
MAS is not starting this initiative from scratch. The Singaporean monetary authority launched BLOOM in October 2025 as an evolution of Project Orchid, an exploration of digital Singapore dollar utility that has been running since 2021. Years of technical expertise are now being applied across foreign jurisdictions and multiple currencies.
The key difference lies in how central banks cut through legacy red tape.
Why Central Banks Are Avoiding Bilateral Routes
Historically, connecting cross-border financial systems required lengthy negotiations across each jurisdiction. Financial institutions had to establish separate bilateral agreements for every target market and counterparty. That conventional model was both time-consuming and burdened transactions with high costs.
This initiative cuts through that complexity via a unified common framework. Through this consolidated model, financial institutions can reduce transaction costs and accelerate product launches without negotiating separate bilateral agreements in each market.
Support from global corporations reinforces the project’s operational rollout. Several international financial institutions and corporations have joined, including Airwallex, Mastercard, Ripple, Visa, and the World Bank Group. The participation of these industry players directly connects policymakers with everyday payment network operators.
Scope Ranging from Trade Transactions to AI Automation
The operational scope tested within BLOOM extends far beyond standard money transfers. Its remit spans corporate cash management, trade finance, and automated payment execution by artificial intelligence (AI) agents within strict guardrails.
For Malaysia, this participation builds on an existing domestic agenda. Bank Negara Malaysia previously announced three initiatives in February 2026 to pilot ringgit stablecoins and tokenized deposits across domestic and cross-border wholesale payment systems throughout 2026. Joining BLOOM gives BNM room to test ringgit instruments alongside its closest regional partners.
Beyond central banking circles, Ripple is conducting its own trials in the same jurisdiction. The payments firm entered Singapore’s regulatory sandbox to test the use of its RLUSD stablecoin in trade finance.
For regional market participants, the initiative’s signal is clear: cross-border transaction efficiency is now being driven by shared technical standards rather than an endless stack of bilateral negotiations across individual jurisdictions.
Source: Cointelegraph.
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