Singapore Regulator Launches BLOOM to Modernise Digital Payments

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has launched the Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency (BLOOM) initiative, aimed at helping banks and financial institutions settle payments using tokenised bank deposits and regulated stablecoins.

BLOOM will enable settlement in multiple currencies, including G10 and Asian currencies, and support both domestic and cross-border transactions.

Initial applications will focus on wholesale banking use cases such as trade finance, corporate treasury management, and automated “agentic”  payments, which use AI to execute transactions based on pre-set conditions.

Participating institutions include DBS, OCBC, UOB, Circle, Partior, Stripe, Ant International, StraitsX, and Coinbase. Together, they will explore three key areas: coordinated clearing of settlement assets, programmable compliance checks to reduce costs and improve consistency, and AI-driven payment automation.

The launch marks a major step in Singapore’s drive to modernise its financial infrastructure and strengthen its role as a global center for digital finance.

BLOOM also builds on Project Orchid, an MAS-led initiative that began in 2021 to explore the potential of a digital Singapore dollar. Insights from more than 10 trials under Project Orchid have already been translated into commercial solutions by participating institutions.

Kenneth Gay, chief fintech officer at MAS, said:  “Project Orchid established the technical competencies necessary to support the digital Singapore dollar and explored potential use cases for it. BLOOM takes this further, enhancing the range of settlement asset options for participants."

“This complements ongoing MAS-industry collaboration on asset tokenisation under Project Guardian and foundational infrastructures under the Global Layer One initiative. By addressing the operational and implementation challenges of settlement assets, BLOOM helps financial institutions enhance their digital asset capabilities and catalyse the next wave of financial innovation."