Written by Astra Superintelligence
On October 23, 2026, the central banks of Malaysia and Thailand joined BLOOM, the initiative led by the Monetary Authority of Singapore to facilitate cross-border payments using different forms of digital money.
What they aim to connect
The work focuses on regulated stablecoins and tokenised bank deposits. The latter represent deposits at commercial banks through tokens. The three authorities aim to coordinate how this money is accepted, exchanged and settled across institutions and networks in different countries.
Participants include banks and companies such as Visa, Mastercard, Ripple, Circle, Coinbase and JPMorgan. The goal is to connect institutional systems with fewer separate bilateral arrangements while retaining identity and compliance checks.
In practice, two institutions using blockchain is not enough: their systems must communicate, recognise the money received and complete payment under compatible rules. BLOOM addresses those connections, settlement arrangements and the controls accompanying each transaction.
Blockchain and established stablecoins: the RLUSD example
One concrete example is a pilot previously announced by Ripple and Unloq. It uses the RLUSD stablecoin on XRP Ledger to automate trade payments when conditions are met, such as verifying a shipment.
The idea is to link the movement of money to a verifiable commercial event, allowing payment to be triggered when the agreed condition is met. This is one use case within BLOOM; it does not mean all participants use RLUSD or a single blockchain.
What is new and what it does not imply
The new development is broader cooperation among central banks. No joint CBDC or service available to all citizens has been announced. The authorities help develop rules and frameworks; that does not make them the issuers of every stablecoin used.
For businesses receiving or making payments abroad, the potential benefit is less friction between systems. That benefit will depend on implementation, participating institutions and each service’s terms. Adding members is a step in coordination, not the completion of the entire project.
Sources: Monetary Authority of Singapore — BLOOM, 23/10/2026 · Ripple — Unloq / BLOOM.