Malaysian and Thai central banks join Singapore's BLOOM

Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined Singapore's BLOOM initiative as policymaker members, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on October 23. The expansion brings the three central banks into common work on cross-border settlement using digital money, including regulated stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits.

MAS said the work will cover how money is accepted, exchanged and settled between institutions, networks and jurisdictions. The announcement does not specify a settlement token, payment corridor or start date for a new live service.

Acceptance, connectivity and controls

The October 23 announcement identifies three areas for the joint work. Acceptance and settlement covers counterparties' contractual arrangements and how transfers are ultimately settled. Interoperability concerns technical and operational connections between separate digital-money systems. Programmable controls cover identity verification, sanctions screening and transaction restrictions.

These are separate requirements for stablecoin payment infrastructure. Connecting networks addresses one part of a cross-border transfer. Institutions also need arrangements for the forms of money they accept and the conditions under which they settle. BLOOM's stated focus includes those contractual and supervisory questions alongside technical connectivity.

Wholesale uses and trial participation

The initiative page lists corporate treasury and trade finance among its wholesale use cases, with G10 and Asian currencies within its scope. It invites banks, financial institutions and settlement-network operators to conduct trials, including on public blockchains.

MAS's updated roster includes Airwallex, Mastercard, Maybank, Monee, Nium, Ripple, ShopeePay and Visa. The World Bank Group appears separately as a multilateral development bank.

Tokenized bank deposits are also the subject of the earlier JPM Coin Ethereum expansion announcement. J.P. Morgan is an existing BLOOM participant; its separate product announcement is context for the bank-money category, rather than evidence that BLOOM has launched a new settlement service.