The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) launched BLOOM, short for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, a new industry initiative to extend settlement options for financial institutions using tokenised bank liabilities and well-regulated stablecoins while applying standardised risk controls.
MAS said BLOOM will work with banks and payment firms to develop common approaches for distributing, clearing and redeeming digital settlement assets across disparate networks.
The programme also targets “programmable” compliance checks to automate screening and reporting, and the use of AI “agentic” payments that execute transactions within pre-set limits to optimise timing and costs.
BLOOM builds on Project Orchid, MAS’s exploration of a digital Singapore dollar.
Since 2021, Orchid has run more than 10 trials and produced an industry report on real-world applications, with participants rolling out commercial offerings based on those learnings, MAS said.
The new initiative will span multiple currencies, including G10 and Asian units, and support domestic and cross-border payments and wholesale use cases such as corporate treasury, trade finance and automated (agentic) payments.
Early collaborators on distribution and clearing include Circle, DBS, OCBC, Partior, Stripe and UOB; Ant International and StraitsX will work on programmable controls; Coinbase and DBS will explore agent-driven payments.
MAS said it is inviting additional banks, financial institutions, and clearing and settlement network operators to conduct trials under BLOOM, and plans to coordinate with fellow regulators as work progresses.
“Project Orchid established the technical competencies necessary to support the digital Singapore dollar,” said Kenneth Gay, MAS’s Chief Fintech Officer. “BLOOM takes this further, enhancing the range of settlement asset options for participants.”
Gay said BLOOM complements ongoing MAS-industry efforts on asset tokenisation under Project Guardian and work on foundational market infrastructure via the Global Layer One initiative.
By addressing operational and implementation hurdles, BLOOM aims to help institutions strengthen digital-asset capabilities and lower the cost and complexity of cross-border wholesale settlement, MAS said.
