Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined the BLOOM initiative on October 23, 2026, as policymaker members, marking expanded regional participation in Singapore's framework for cross-border digital payments.
What BLOOM Does
BLOOM, which stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, is a public-private initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The program aims to help financial institutions use stablecoins and tokenized deposits to move money across borders more efficiently.
The initiative focuses on standardizing approaches for cross-border settlement and exchange of two types of digital assets: tokenized bank liabilities (bank deposits represented on a blockchain) and regulated stablecoins (tokens pegged to fiat currencies and issued under official oversight).
By aligning regulatory frameworks across participating jurisdictions, BLOOM targets lower costs for cross-border payments, which are traditionally slow and expensive due to coordination requirements between countries.
Participants and Focus Areas
The initiative brings together stablecoin issuer Circle, Singaporean bank DBS, payments firm Stripe, and the World Bank Group, among other participants.
BLOOM targets wholesale operations rather than retail payments, focusing on trade finance and corporate treasury functions that move large sums between countries.
Key work areas include programmable compliance controls that embed rules like sanctions screening directly into transactions, allowing compliance to occur automatically. The initiative also emphasizes multi-currency flexibility, standardized risk management, and interoperability between payment systems.
Background and Expansion
BLOOM builds on Project Orchid, an earlier MAS initiative that began running trials in 2021 to explore practical uses for digital currency. Orchid tested programmable money in real-world settings before expanding to include privately issued stablecoins and tokenized deposits.
The Malaysian and Thai central banks joined approximately one year after MAS launched BLOOM on October 16, 2025. As policymaker members, they help shape standards rather than immediately deploy live stablecoin payment systems.
Wider Southeast Asian engagement is anticipated, with further collaboration expected among payment networks, multilateral organizations, and private firms.
