Singapore
Updated
Summary
Singapore is a city-state and one of Asia's main financial and payments hubs. Its central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), is also the financial regulator and runs monetary policy through a managed exchange-rate band for the Singapore dollar instead of a policy interest rate. For digital money, MAS has run a long series of public-private trials: Project Orchid (from 2021) on a digital Singapore dollar, BLOOM (launched 2025-10-16) on settlement in tokenised bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins, wholesale CBDC trials, and tokenised MAS Bills. A MAS stablecoin law is being drafted. For crypto readers it matters as the licensing and pilot venue for Ripple, Circle and other payment firms.
Key numbers
Q3 2026 real GDP growth (y/y, advance): 5.4% year on year (as of 2026-09-30). Source: mas.gov.sg
MAS Core Inflation forecast, 2026: 1.5-2.0% average (as of 2026-10-14). Source: mas.gov.sg
CPI-All Items inflation forecast, 2026: around 2.0% (as of 2026-10-14). Source: mas.gov.sg
MAS Core and CPI-All Items forecast, 2027: 1.5-2.5% average (as of 2026-10-14). Source: mas.gov.sg
Current MAS Core Inflation: slightly above 2% (no exact figure on page) (as of 2026-10-14). Source: mas.gov.sg
Tokenised MAS Bill trial size: S$1 million (Sep 2026) then S$10 million (Oct 2026) (as of 2026-10-09). Source: mas.gov.sg
Project Orchid trials: more than 10 since 2021 (as of 2025-10-16). Source: mas.gov.sg
Stablecoin consultation window: opened 2026-09-01; closed 2026-10-16 (as of 2026-10-16). Source: mas.gov.sg
Timeline
2026-10-23 — MAS announces that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined BLOOM as policymaker members; participation expands to include Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, Maybank and the World Bank Group. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2026-10-16 — Public comments close on MAS's stablecoin legislation consultation. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2026-10-14 — MAS keeps the rate of appreciation of the policy band; Q3 GDP +5.4% y/y. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2026-10-12 — Standard Chartered launches RLUSD custody (Singapore-dated release, DIFC branch). (Source: ripple.com)
2026-10-09 — Second tokenised MAS Bill trial issuance, S$10 million, settled in wholesale CBDC. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2026-09-23 — First tokenised MAS Bill trial issuance, S$1 million, settled in wholesale CBDC. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2026-09-01 — MAS publishes the Payment Services Act stablecoin consultation paper. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2026-07-27 — July 2026 policy review: MAS increases the rate of appreciation of the policy band very slightly (date from page address; effect described in the October statement). (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2026-03-25 — Ripple announces its BLOOM participation and an Unloq trade-finance pilot in RLUSD on XRPL. (Source: ripple.com)
2025-12-01 — MAS approves expanded payment scope for Ripple's Singapore Major Payment Institution licence. (Source: ripple.com)
2025-11-13 — MAS announces a successful live trial of SGD wholesale CBDC for interbank overnight lending. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
2025-10-16 — MAS launches BLOOM. (Source: mas.gov.sg)
Key actors and links
Ripple (actor:ripple): BLOOM member with a Unloq RLUSD trade-finance pilot; holds a MAS Major Payment Institution licence through Ripple Markets APAC.
RLUSD (asset:crypto-rlusd): Ripple's dollar stablecoin, the settlement asset in the Unloq pilot; Standard Chartered custody launched 2026-10-12.
USDC (asset:crypto-usdc): Circle, USDC's issuer, is a named BLOOM initial member.
XRP Ledger (actor:xrp-ledger): Ledger on which the Ripple/Unloq pilot settles.
Malaysia (country:malaysia): Joined BLOOM as a policymaker member on 2026-10-23 (MAS release).
Thailand (country:thailand): Joined BLOOM as a policymaker member on 2026-10-23 (MAS release).
Singapore dollar (asset:sgd): The currency whose stablecoins, CBDC and tokenised bills MAS is trialling.
US dollar (asset:usd): Dominant stablecoin peg; MAS-SCS covers SGD and G10 pegs.
Stablecoins (theme:stablecoins): MAS-SCS licence regime, interest ban and foreign-recognition proposals.
Tokenized deposits (theme:tokenized-deposits): BLOOM's other settlement asset class alongside stablecoins.
Cross-border payment infrastructure (theme:cross-border-payment-infrastructure): BLOOM's stated aim: domestic and cross-border settlement.
Trade-finance/tokenization specialization (theme:trade-finance-tokenization): Unloq SC+ pilot and BLOOM's trade-finance use case.
Tokenization (theme:tokenization): Tokenised MAS Bills and wholesale CBDC trials.
Southeast Asia (region:southeast-asia): The regional corridor in which BLOOM's Malaysia and Thailand policymaker members sit.
Why it matters now
Singapore is where the 'regulated digital money' side of crypto is being built in public. On 2026-09-01 MAS published draft amendments to the Payment Services Act for a single-currency stablecoin regime, covering SGD and G10 pegs, a ban on interest, and possible recognition of some foreign stablecoins; comments closed on 2026-10-16 and no enactment date has been set. MAS also issued its first tokenised MAS Bills as trials in September and October 2026, settled in wholesale CBDC (S$1 million, then S$10 million). On 2026-10-23 MAS announced that Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined BLOOM as policymaker members, with Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, Maybank and the World Bank Group among the expanded participants. Ripple's own BLOOM piece is a trade-finance pilot with Unloq that settles in RLUSD on the XRP Ledger, with no volumes published. On the macro side, MAS held the policy band's rate of appreciation on 2026-10-14 after a very slight tightening in July, with Q3 GDP up 5.4% year on year and 2026 core inflation seen at 1.5-2.0%. Disagreement worth keeping: BLOOM members range from banks to stablecoin issuers, so MAS has not said which rail will win, and the draft stablecoin rules could favour regulated issuers over others.
Risks and open questions
Bull case: MAS combines a central bank, regulator and active pilot programme: BLOOM brings banks, card networks and stablecoin issuers into one forum; wholesale CBDC and tokenised MAS Bills are live in trial form; and a licensing regime for stablecoins would give issuers a recognised status. Macro conditions are firm, with Q3 GDP at 5.4% year on year and core inflation inside MAS's range. If Malaysia and Thailand do take part as policymakers, Singapore could become the reference point for regional digital-money rules.
Bear case: Most of the digital-money work is trial scale (S$1 million and S$10 million bill issuances) and MAS has not announced live corridors, common rules or a stablecoin Bill date. BLOOM is multi-rail, so no single asset such as RLUSD is assured of volume. The draft rules may restrict foreign stablecoins to a limited recognised group and could ban interest, reducing appeal for some issuers. An open, export-driven economy is exposed to global trade and the strong 2026 growth is expected to moderate.
Falsifiers: - MAS naming live cross-border BLOOM transactions with dates and currencies would weaken the 'trial scale only' reading. - MAS publishing the final stablecoin Bill with a timetable would weaken the 'no enactment date' reading. - A MAS participant list (Annex A or the BLOOM page) that omits Bank Negara Malaysia or the Bank of Thailand would falsify the membership reading. - A rebound in core inflation above the 2.0% top of MAS's 2026 range would weaken the 'stable policy' reading. - Publication of pilot volumes showing material RLUSD settlement would weaken the 'no assured volume' reading.
Value accrual gate: Not a crypto asset; no token value-accrual gate applies. Gains and losses fall on the Singapore dollar and the economy, on MAS-licensed banks and payment firms (DBS, OCBC, UOB, Partior and others), on stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Ripple that gain or lose regulated status, and on Singapore-based users of tokenised settlement. Any benefit to XRP would be indirect, through XRPL fees and reserves if Ripple's RLUSD pilot scales.
What to watch
MAS response to the stablecoin consultation and any Payment Services Act amendment Bill. (no scheduled date); Source: mas.gov.sg
Government 2026 and 2027 GDP growth forecasts, announced by METI. (November 2026); Source: mas.gov.sg
Further tokenised MAS Bill trial issuances and any move from trial to routine issuance. (no scheduled date); Source: mas.gov.sg
MAS naming live BLOOM cross-border pilots, currencies and dates. (no scheduled date); Source: mas.gov.sg
Results of the Ripple/Unloq RLUSD pilot. (no scheduled date); Source: ripple.com
Next MAS monetary policy statement (date not stated on the page read). (no scheduled date); speculative, no scheduled source
AA inference
Inference (AA): Singapore is the graph's regulatory test bed for whether stablecoins and tokenised deposits can sit inside one supervised settlement framework. Pilots such as BLOOM are exploratory, and MAS has announced no live cross-border corridors in the pages AA could read. The XRP link runs through RLUSD and XRPL fees, not through XRP as a settlement asset. That is AA's reading, not a statement by MAS or Ripple.
Sources
MAS announced BLOOM on 2025-10-16 as an initiative to extend settlement capabilities, working with industry to enable settlement in tokenised bank liabilities and well-regulated stablecoins through standardised risk approaches, covering multiple G10 and Asian currencies, domestic and cross-border payments, and wholesale uses including corporate treasury, trade finance and agentic payments. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
The BLOOM release names initial members by theme: distribution and clearing of settlement assets (Circle, DBS, OCBC, Partior, Stripe, UOB), programmable compliance controls (Ant International, StraitsX), and agentic payments (Coinbase, DBS). Annex A with the full list was not retrieved. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
The same release says BLOOM builds on Project Orchid, established in 2021, which explored use cases and infrastructure for a digital Singapore dollar and has run more than 10 trials. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
MAS's media release of 2026-10-23 (page footer: last updated 2026-10-23) says Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand have joined BLOOM as policymaker members, and that participation has expanded to include Airwallex, Mastercard, Maybank, Monee, Nium, Ripple, ShopeePay, Visa and the World Bank Group. Existing participants it names include Anchorage Digital, Ant International, Circle, Coinbase, DBS, J.P. Morgan, Kasikornbank, OCBC, Partior, Schroders, Standard Chartered, StraitsX, Stripe, Temasek, UOB and Xweave. Focus areas: acceptance and settlement across jurisdictions, interoperability across digital-money arrangements, and programmable controls such as identity checks and sanctions screening. The release gives no pilot description, volumes or timelines; the full list is in its Annex A, which AA did not read. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-27)
MAS published a consultation paper on 2026-09-01 proposing Payment Services Act amendments to implement its single-currency stablecoin (MAS-SCS) framework, for stablecoins issued in Singapore and pegged to the Singapore dollar or a G10 currency. Only licensed issuers may call coins 'MAS-regulated'; others are treated as digital payment tokens. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
The same consultation seeks feedback on joint Singapore/foreign issuance, recognising a limited number of foreign stablecoins mainly for cross-border wholesale use, banning interest on MAS-regulated stablecoins, issuer stress testing and wind-down plans, and safeguarding of customer monies. Comments closed on 2026-10-16. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
On 2025-11-13 MAS announced a successful live trial in which DBS, OCBC and UOB settled interbank overnight lending using Singapore dollar wholesale CBDC on the SGD Testnet, the first live issuance of SGD wholesale CBDC; MAS planned a later trial issuing tokenised MAS Bills to primary dealers settled in CBDC. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
MAS's tokenised MAS Bill page lists two trial issuances settled in wholesale CBDC on the SGD Testnet: S$1,000,000 (issued 2026-09-23, maturing 2026-09-30) and S$10,000,000 (issued 2026-10-09, maturing 2026-10-23), open to institutional investors only. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
In its 2026-10-14 statement MAS said it will maintain the rate of appreciation of the policy band, with no change to the band's width or the level at which it is centred; it had increased the rate of appreciation very slightly in its July 2026 review. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
The same statement forecasts 2026 MAS Core Inflation at 1.5-2.0% and CPI-All Items around 2.0%, with both at 1.5-2.5% in 2027, and says Singapore's GDP grew 5.4% year on year in Q3 2026. The page also says government GDP forecasts for 2026 and 2027 will be announced in November by METI (the Ministry of Energy, Trade & Industry). (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
MAS's October 2026 at-a-glance page describes MAS Core Inflation as slightly above 2%, driven by higher import costs from commodity prices, and says growth should moderate from an exceptionally strong pace. (Source: mas.gov.sg, accessed 2026-10-26)
Ripple said on 2025-12-01 that MAS approved an expanded scope of payment activities for the Major Payment Institution licence of Ripple Markets APAC Pte. Ltd., its Singapore subsidiary. (Source: ripple.com, accessed 2026-10-26)
Standard Chartered's RLUSD custody launch release of 2026-10-12 carries a Singapore dateline, though the custody runs through its Dubai (DIFC) branch. (Source: ripple.com, accessed 2026-10-26)
Ripple's release of 2026-03-25 (Singapore dateline) says it joined BLOOM and will pilot, with Unloq, a cross-border trade settlement use case on Unloq's SC+ trade-finance infrastructure on the XRP Ledger using RLUSD, with payment released when predefined commercial conditions such as shipment verification are met. It gives no volumes, counterparties, timetable or role for XRP. (Source: ripple.com, accessed 2026-10-27)