Visa and Singapore are collaborating on a new test project for stablecoins, gauging whether cross-border payments can be settled every day of the week. More importantly, the pilot is being touted as a step toward greater interoperability between traditional and stablecoin-based systems.
The pilot is operating under Singapore’s BLOOM initiative, a Monetary Authority of Singapore program designed to connect traditional payment systems with stablecoin rails, adding 24/7 settlement to legacy financial institutions’ compliance and security controls. Also participating in the project is the cross-border payments platform Nium.
The pilot will use both dollar- and euro-backed stablecoins, targeting settlement infrastructure between institutions, with the goal of proving that regulated stablecoins can close the gaps left by traditional banking hours. Visa’s trial aims to allow settlements on weekends and public holidays, something traditional banking hours do not support.
“Stablecoins move and settle 24/7, but the banking and payments infrastructure around them often don’t,” said Joel Hugentobler, Cryptocurrency Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Visa’s pilot is testing whether institutions can actually extend that ‘always on’ capability through settlement processes, treasury, compliance, reconciliation, etc. This isn’t Singapore specific, although Singapore has a highly regulated environment, so if they can get something to work there, they may have a solid solution for the market.”
Stablecoins in BLOOM
The Visa stablecoin settlement pilot marks the company’s first project inside the framework run by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. MAS introduced BLOOM in 2025 as a tool for developing settlement systems based on tokenized bank liabilities and regulated stablecoins. The acronym stands for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency.
BLOOM was designed to enhance the capabilities of both cross-border and domestic payments within Singapore. It has also branched into multi-currency settlement and institutional applications, including use cases for corporate treasuries, trade finance, and automated payments.
Growing Use Cases
There have been other test runs on the system prior to the Visa project. In March, Ripple and supply-chain finance company Unloq tested a trade-finance system in which settlement could be linked with shipment verification and financing conditions.
Stablecoins have also been an increasing part of Singapore’s consumer economy. Last year, the Metro department store chain began supporting stablecoin transactions in its stores and online, using dollar-based assets like Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC.