Visa and Nium are piloting stablecoin settlements under the Monetary Authority of Singapore's BLOOM initiative, aiming to enable faster cross-border payments even on weekends and public holidays
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is advancing its efforts to modernise cross-border payments by expanding trials under its BLOOM initiative, with Visa and Nium now piloting stablecoin settlement. BLOOM, which stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, was launched in October 2025 to explore how tokenised money and stablecoins could improve international payment infrastructure. The initiative builds on MAS' earlier Project Orchid, which examined the digital Singapore dollar's potential use cases and technical foundations.
Visa and Nium's pilot focuses on settling payments using stablecoins denominated in US dollars and euros, operating seven days a week-including weekends and public holidays. This approach aims to address a longstanding challenge in cross-border payments: delays caused by traditional banking hours and settlement cycles. By leveraging stablecoins-digital tokens pegged to fiat currencies and settled on blockchain infrastructure-the pilot seeks to provide participating financial institutions with faster access to funds and reduce operational bottlenecks.
Expanding Industry Participation
The BLOOM initiative has attracted a broad range of industry participants, including Coinbase, Ripple, Stripe, JP Morgan, DBS Bank, OCBC, and Maybank. These firms are collaborating to test various aspects of stablecoin and tokenised money infrastructure, from technical interoperability to regulatory compliance. Visa and Nium's involvement signals growing interest among global payment networks and fintechs in using stablecoins for real-world settlement, rather than just as speculative assets.
For Nium, the pilot aligns with its broader digital asset strategy. In July, Nium acquired Cypher, a crypto-native non-custodial wallet and card issuing company, to strengthen its on-chain money movement capabilities. The company's participation in BLOOM reflects a push to integrate digital assets into mainstream payment flows, potentially lowering costs and increasing speed for international business transactions.
Stablecoin Settlement: Practical Implications
Traditional cross-border payments often face delays due to time zone differences, cut-off times, and public holidays in different jurisdictions. Stablecoin settlement, by contrast, can operate continuously, allowing transactions to be processed outside conventional banking hours. According to MAS, the BLOOM pilots are designed to test whether these new mechanisms can deliver tangible improvements in efficiency, reliability, and access for both financial institutions and end users.
While Visa and Nium have not disclosed a timeline for completing the pilot, the outcomes could influence how other payment providers and regulators approach stablecoin adoption. The pilot's focus on US dollar and euro stablecoins reflects the dominant role these currencies play in global trade and finance, but also highlights the need for robust regulatory frameworks to manage risks such as volatility, settlement finality, and anti-money laundering compliance.
Key Data and Industry Context
According to the Bank for International Settlements, cross-border payments can take up to five business days to settle using traditional correspondent banking networks, with costs averaging 1.5% to 3% of the transfer amount for business payments as of 2025. Stablecoin-based settlement aims to reduce both the time and cost of these transactions, though regulatory and technical hurdles remain. The BLOOM initiative's pilots are among the first in Asia to test stablecoin settlement at scale with major payment networks and banks.
As stablecoins and tokenised money gain traction, central banks and regulators worldwide are closely monitoring pilot outcomes to assess their impact on financial stability, consumer protection, and the broader payments ecosystem. The MAS BLOOM initiative is positioned as a testbed for these innovations, with lessons likely to inform future policy and industry standards.
Stablecoins are digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to a reference asset, typically a fiat currency such as the US dollar or euro. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which can experience significant price volatility, stablecoins aim to provide predictable value for payments and settlement. In practice, stablecoin transactions are recorded on blockchain networks, enabling near-instantaneous transfer of value across borders. However, the effectiveness of stablecoins in large-scale payment systems depends on factors such as issuer credibility, reserve management, regulatory oversight, and technical integration with existing financial infrastructure. As pilots like BLOOM progress, the industry will gain clearer evidence on whether stablecoins can deliver on their promise of faster, cheaper, and more reliable cross-border payments.
