The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand will work with financial industry participants on cross-border digital money settlement under a new initiative announced by MAS on October 23.

The project, known as BLOOM, will address how institutions accept digital money, settle transactions across borders, connect payment networks and apply programmable controls such as identity and sanctions checks. Ripple, Visa, Mastercard and the World Bank Group are among the participants exploring applications across payments, treasury and trade finance.

Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined BLOOM as policymaker members. The three authorities will help develop approaches for regulated stablecoins and tokenized deposits that operate across institutions and jurisdictions.

BLOOM Sets Out Three Areas of Work

BLOOM stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency. The initiative brings policymakers, financial institutions, payment networks and technology providers together on cross-border digital money.

The first workstream examines how institutions accept digital money, arrange transactions with counterparties and settle across markets. A second considers methods for connecting networks and digital money systems, while a third covers programmable controls, including identity checks, sanctions screening and transaction controls. Read together, the workstreams trace the path of a cross-border transaction, from acceptance and counterparty arrangement through movement between systems to the controls applied along the way.

According to MAS, the framework will take international standards and local supervisory requirements into account while allowing individual jurisdictions to retain different rules. For regulated stablecoins and tokenized deposits intended to work across institutions and jurisdictions, that means shared approaches will operate alongside each market's own requirements rather than replace them.

Ripple, Visa and Mastercard Join Participants

MAS said participants include Airwallex, Mastercard, Maybank, Monee, Nium, Ripple, ShopeePay, Visa and the World Bank Group. Their work spans payments, treasury and trade finance, including tokenized deposits, regulated stablecoins and payment-network settlement. The participant list mirrors the groups BLOOM convenes, spanning financial institutions, payment networks and technology providers.

The World Bank Group joins as a multilateral development bank, contributing experience in payment modernization, cross-border payments and financial inclusion, including the needs of developing economies.

MAS said shared frameworks and aligned commercial arrangements could reduce the need for institutions to negotiate separately with each counterparty or market. Central bank participation will keep public policy and regulatory considerations embedded in the work. The announcement is available on the MAS website.

Central Bank Leaders Explain the Initiative

MAS Deputy Managing Director Leong Sing Chiong said digital money will operate across institutions and markets, and that policymakers and industry must address acceptance, settlement and interoperability together.

Bank Negara Malaysia Deputy Governor Aznan bin Abdul Aziz said frictionless cross-border payments using multiple digital currencies were becoming more tangible, adding that Malaysia would explore the space with central banks and industry partners.

Bank of Thailand Deputy Governor Daranee Saeju welcomed the collaboration with MAS on regulatory approaches for tokenized money, particularly cross-border payments and wholesale settlement. She said the initiative would examine innovations while keeping oversight prudent, proportionate and responsive to evolving risks.