Southeast Asia is now building two different pipes for sending money across borders, and the same central banks are in both. On 23 October 2026, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said that Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and the Bank of Thailand (BOT) had joined BLOOM, its initiative for settling payments in tokenised bank deposits and regulated stablecoins.
Most coverage stops at “more central banks back stablecoins”. The more useful detail for Indian readers is who is missing. The Reserve Bank of India is not in BLOOM. It is, however, a founding partner in the other pipe, Project Nexus, with Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand sitting right beside it.
What BLOOM actually is
BLOOM stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency. MAS launched it in October 2025, according to The Business Times, building on Project Orchid, its earlier work on a digital Singapore dollar.
The MAS BLOOM page lists 24 industry members, among them Circle, Coinbase, Ripple, Anchorage Digital, Visa, Mastercard, Stripe, J.P. Morgan, DBS, Standard Chartered, Maybank and Kasikornbank. Its stated goal is to let banks settle in tokenised commercial bank money and stablecoins “that meet regulatory expectations” without signing a separate arrangement with every counterparty.
The work covers three areas: how institutions accept and settle different forms of digital money across borders, how different digital-money systems interoperate, and “programmable controls” such as identity checks, sanctions screening and transaction limits. The Bank of Thailand’s deputy governor, Daranee Saeju, framed it as a way to “inform forward-looking regulatory approaches for tokenised money”, particularly in wholesale settlement.
Nothing here is a product launch. It is a rule-writing club, and Malaysia and Thailand are now inside the room where the rules get drafted.
The other pipe: Nexus
Project Nexus started at the BIS Innovation Hub in Singapore. Instead of digital tokens, it links existing domestic instant payment systems, so a UPI user could pay someone on Singapore’s PayNow or Thailand’s PromptPay in about 60 seconds in most cases.
In April 2025, the RBI, BNM, the Philippines’ central bank, MAS and BOT incorporated Nexus Global Payments in Singapore as a not-for-profit operator. Bank Indonesia joined in February 2026, and a PayNet and NETS joint venture was appointed technical operator the same month, with go-live targeted for 2027.
BtcMedia comparison: two tracks, same neighbours
| BLOOM | Nexus | |
|---|---|---|
| Led by | MAS (Singapore) | Nexus Global Payments (six central banks) |
| What moves | Tokenised deposits, regulated stablecoins | Ordinary money via instant payment systems |
| Policymaker members | MAS, BNM, BOT | RBI, MAS, BNM, BOT, BSP, Bank Indonesia |
| India’s role | None | Founding member (UPI) |
| Private members | 24, incl. Circle, Coinbase, Ripple | Payment system operators |
| Status | Frameworks being drafted | Being built, go-live targeted for 2027 |
Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand appear in both columns. India appears in one.
BtcMedia verdict
This is not a contest one track has to win. Nexus is retail payments on rails people already use; BLOOM is mostly about how banks settle with each other in token form. Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are hedging by joining both.
India’s absence from BLOOM fits its posture so far: build the instant-payment link, keep regulated stablecoins at arm’s length, and keep pushing its own e-rupee pilots. The risk is that the standards for stablecoin settlement in Asia get written without an Indian voice, and India adopts them later or works around them.
What it means for Indian investors
- Nothing changes for your money today. Neither scheme is live for consumers.
- When Nexus goes live, sending money to Singapore, Malaysia or Thailand from a UPI app is the change most Indians are likely to notice, not a stablecoin.
- Stablecoins you hold in India, such as USDC or USDT, remain virtual digital assets. Gains are taxed at 30% plus cess, losses can’t be set off against other income, and transfers carry 1% TDS. Our crypto tax calculator shows the net-in-hand figure.
FAQ
Is India part of BLOOM? No. MAS’s member list names only MAS, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand as policymaker members.
Does BLOOM mean Malaysia and Thailand will issue stablecoins? No. Joining means helping write common frameworks for cross-border settlement in digital money; it is not an issuance plan.
When can I use UPI to pay in Singapore through Nexus? Nexus Global Payments targets go-live in 2027 for its first group of countries. No firm date has been announced.
This article is for information only and is not financial advice.