Asia Crypto Regulations and BLOOM's Cross-Border Payments

Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are coordinating cross-border digital money settlement while keeping their own supervisory rules. On October 23, 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand had joined its BLOOM initiative to develop payment arrangements involving regulated stablecoins and tokenized bank deposits.

Key takeaways

• Three Southeast Asian central banks now participate in BLOOM.
• The initiative targets settlement compatibility and lower cross-border transaction costs.
• Ripple, Mastercard, Visa and the World Bank Group joined the expanded participant group.
• Each central bank retains its own regulatory authority.

What BLOOM changes for cross-border settlement

BLOOM brings regulators, financial institutions and payment companies together to develop arrangements for accepting, exchanging and settling digital money across national borders. Its scope includes regulated stablecoins and tokenized deposits, rather than a single shared currency.

The name stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency. Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined as policymaker members, putting the three central banks in the same initiative while preserving their respective supervisory requirements.