The central banks of Malaysia and Thailand have officially joined the Singapore-led BLOOM initiative as policymaker members. This collaborative effort focuses on streamlining cross-border payments through the use of stablecoins and tokenized deposits, aiming to reduce operational costs for financial institutions.
Launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore in October 2025, the BLOOM project builds upon the earlier Project Orchid, which began in 2021 to explore digital currency applications. The initiative seeks to simplify international transactions by eliminating the need for complex bilateral arrangements between individual market participants.
The scope of the project includes corporate cash management, trade finance, and automated payments executed by AI agents. Current participants in the initiative include major entities such as Mastercard, Visa, Ripple, Airwallex, and the World Bank Group.
In a related development, Bank Negara Malaysia announced in February that it would conduct tests throughout 2026. These trials involve three separate initiatives designed to evaluate the performance of ringgit-denominated stablecoins and tokenized deposits for both domestic and international wholesale payments.
