The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on October 23 that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) have joined BLOOM as policy authority members. BLOOM is a public-private initiative for cross-border settlement using digital money, including tokenized deposits and regulated stablecoins. The three authorities will work with industry participants in their respective jurisdictions to develop common approaches for accepting, exchanging, and settling different forms of digital money across institutions, networks, and borders.
MAS launched BLOOM on October 16, 2025. The initiative builds on Project Orchid, which examined use cases for a digital Singapore dollar and the infrastructure needed to support them. The expanded participation also includes Mastercard, Maybank, Ripple, Visa, and the World Bank Group.
The areas of collaboration include accepting multiple forms of digital money and completing final settlement in cross-border transactions, connecting different systems through interoperability, and applying programmable safeguards to transactions. The safeguards include identity checks, sanctions screening, and transaction controls. The work will consider how relevant international standards and domestic supervisory requirements should apply while recognizing that requirements differ across jurisdictions.
MAS said the goal is to establish a common implementation framework and align transaction and operational requirements, reducing the burden on financial institutions of making separate arrangements for every counterparty or market. The central banks’ participation will also bring public-policy and regulatory considerations into the development process.