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Singapore launches BLOOM initiative to advance digital finance infrastructure

Policy & Regulation·October 22, 2025, 6:24 AM

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has unveiled a new initiative aimed at enhancing the nation’s financial infrastructure through the use of stablecoins and tokenized commercial bank money.

 

Announced on Oct. 16, the project, known as BLOOM, short for Borderless, Liquid, Open, Online, Multi-currency, brings together 16 financial sector participants, including Anchorage Digital, Ant International, Circle, Coinbase, and DBS Bank. According to MAS, BLOOM is open to additional participants through a registration form available on its official website.

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Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Building on Project Orchid

BLOOM operates under Project Orchid, a digital Singapore dollar initiative launched in 2021 to explore potential applications of central bank digital currency (CBDC) in strengthening Singapore’s financial ecosystem. Through BLOOM, it will examine use cases involving G10 and Asian currencies, covering both domestic and cross-border payments, as well as wholesale financial transactions.

 

The project’s focus includes coordinating interoperability between different networks to enable the distribution and clearing of settlement assets. It will also explore automated compliance checks and study methods to make wholesale settlements more efficient and cost-effective. Artificial intelligence (AI) agents are expected to play a supporting role, executing transactions automatically within predefined limits and regulatory parameters.

 

Expanding stablecoin usage in Singapore

The MAS initiative comes shortly after the listing of XSGD, a Singapore dollar–backed stablecoin, on the U.S.-based crypto exchange Coinbase on Oct. 1. XSGD is issued by StraitsX, a digital payments provider, and is fully backed by reserve assets held with DBS Bank and Standard Chartered.

 

Stablecoin payments have gained traction in Singapore’s retail sector as well. StraitsX recently began supporting settlements in USDT and USDC through OKX Pay. Consumers can use SGQR codes at participating GrabPay merchants to make everyday purchases, such as coffee, with transactions settled directly in Singapore dollars into merchant accounts.

 

Rising local interest in digital assets

Singapore’s growing engagement with digital assets reflects a broader trend of public interest. A report from ApeX Protocol, cited by Cointelegraph, ranked Singapore as the world’s most “crypto-obsessed” nation, awarding it a composite score of 100. The ranking considered ownership rates, adoption growth, search activity, and ATM availability. The study found that 24.4% of Singapore’s population holds cryptocurrency, ahead of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which scored 99.7 despite a 25.3% ownership rate.

 

In a separate development, Channel News Asia reported that three Singaporeans have been implicated in a large-scale fraud scheme linked to Cambodia’s Prince Group. The U.S. Department of Justice recently confiscated 127,271 Bitcoin tied to the operation—the largest seizure in its history.

 

Following the investigation, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control imposed sanctions on the three individuals as well as 17 Singapore-registered entities. The sanctions block access to any property in their possession and prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with them, citing risks to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests.

 

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Web3 & Enterprise·

Dec 13, 2023

NEOPIN works with Japan’s Jasmy to develop RWA-based DeFi products

NEOPIN works with Japan’s Jasmy to develop RWA-based DeFi productsSingapore-headquartered centralized decentralized finance (CeDeFi) protocol NEOPIN has formed a strategic partnership with Jasmy, a Japanese developer specializing in blockchain-based Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. This collaboration represents a step in their joint effort to expand into the global blockchain market, with a particular emphasis on data assetization.Founded in 2016, Jasmy has a management team in which most have a background with tech conglomerate Sony. In contrast to the dominance of tech giants like Google, Apple, Meta and Amazon over data, Jasmy concentrates on achieving data democratization. This concept empowers individuals to have control over their own data. The growing Japanese firm is convinced that the integration of IoT and blockchain technology is the key to realizing this vision of data democracy.Notably, Jasmy has its native token called JasmyCoin. As a regulated virtual asset in Japan, it is listed on centralized exchanges like Binance, Coinbase, Kraken and KuCoin.Photo by Shubham Dhage on UnsplashReal-world assets and security tokensThrough this partnership, the two will explore joint business ventures involving real-world assets (RWAs) and security tokens. They plan to utilize their combined business networks to expand their ecosystems beyond Korea, Japan and the Middle East. NEOPIN will introduce DeFi products using its native token, NPT, and JasmyCoin. Additionally, NEOPIN will become a validator on Jasmy’s mainnet to support its growth.Their collaboration is poised to boost NEOPIN’s advancement into the Japanese market. NEOPIN has been actively pursuing expansion into Japan since its announcement in August. With the Japanese government advocating for Web3 initiatives, a rise in the creation of tokens from local projects is anticipated, leading to a growing demand for DeFi and wallet services.NEOPIN’s partnerships in JapanAs Japan’s digital asset landscape evolves, NEOPIN is actively working to increase its market share in the country. This effort includes a variety of strategies such as focusing on gaming, developing their mainnet, engaging in local marketing activities and launching DeFi products. NEOPIN has also previously announced partnerships with other entities in the Web3 space, including SBINFT, Lena Network and Rokubunnoni, as part of its broader strategy to strengthen its presence in the Japanese market.NEOPIN’s CEO, Ethan Kim, highlighted the company’s goal to lead in the global RWA market. In partnership with Jasmy, they aim to develop and showcase DeFi products related to RWAs and security tokens. NEOPIN is also committed to strengthening its position in Japan by providing Japanese language support this year and actively forming alliances with promising Japanese blockchain enterprises.Hiroshi Harada, CFO of Jasmy, acknowledged NEOPIN’s proven expertise in the Korean market and expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration between the two companies in the blockchain sector. Harada said that their joint efforts will focus on building networks, developing use cases and expanding the market.

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Web3 & Enterprise·

Nov 24, 2023

Planetarium Labs’ blockchain MMORPG Nine Chronicles M launches worldwide

Planetarium Labs’ blockchain MMORPG Nine Chronicles M launches worldwideWeb3 gaming company Planetarium Labs has officially released its mobile game Nine Chronicles M worldwide, which is now available for download on Google Play and the App Store.Photo by Jonas Leupe on UnsplashRedefining the MMORPG genreNine Chronicles M is the mobile version of the popular Nine Chronicles, a fully on-chain open-source massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) — the first of its kind in the world — set against the backdrop of Norse mythology. The PC version of the game has consistently topped the ranks of dApp store DappRadar’s blockchain game listings with more than 200,000 users worldwide. Building on this experience, Planetarium Labs stated that the mobile version would provide an even more immersive game experience surpassing that of the original version.“With Nine Chronicles M, we aim to create an experience where the community not only enjoys the game but actually owns it,” said Kim Jae-seok, CEO of Planetarium Labs, referring to the game’s fully decentralized format and interactive open-source protocol. “From various events to creative and enhanced gameplay and the largest reward pool known in PvP battlegrounds, we promise to deliver an exciting and thrilling gaming experience.”Successful pre-registration turnoutThis latest release comes after the global pre-registration event that recently ended on Wednesday (UTC), which attracted some 200,000 gamers. Various rewards will be distributed to participants through a gacha game dubbed “Dvergr’s Gacha Workshop”. Such rewards include rare character costumes and allotted amounts of the in-game currency Nine Chronicles Gold (NCG), which can be used to purchase in-game items or staked to earn additional rewards. They can be claimed by downloading and logging into the game, Planetarium Labs explained.

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Policy & Regulation·

Jul 11, 2023

Korean Financial Regulator Reveals Crypto Accounting Guidelines to Prevent Inflated Company…

Korean Financial Regulator Reveals Crypto Accounting Guidelines to Prevent Inflated Company ValuationsThe Korean Financial Services Commission (FSC) has announced new regulations to address accounting uncertainties in the blockchain industry, according to local news outlet KBS News. The rapid growth of the industry and the increasing impact of cryptocurrency transactions on corporate accounting have resulted in confusion due to the lack of clear guidelines.Last month, the National Assembly’s plenary session passed the Virtual Asset User Protection Bill, emphasizing the need for improved regulation. In line with this development, the FSC has introduced practical guidelines and measures to resolve accounting uncertainties.The FSC has introduced two measures to achieve this goal: virtual asset accounting guidelines and mandatory disclosure of virtual assets in annotations within financial statements.Photo by Beatriz Pérez Moya on UnsplashAccounting guidelinesThe virtual asset accounting guidelines state that when an issuer sells virtual assets to a customer, they must fulfill all obligations, such as the sales process, in order to recognize it as revenue. Any costs incurred during the issuance of a virtual asset and the creation of its platform should be recognized as expenses, unless there is clear evidence that these activities specifically contribute to the development of the virtual asset. Additionally, any reserved virtual assets after issuance cannot be treated as assets on the company’s balance sheet. These guidelines aim to prevent companies from artificially inflating the value of their companies using virtual assets.When recognizing virtual assets as assets or liabilities, virtual asset service providers (VASPs) must consider the concept of economic control. Economic control refers to the entity’s authority to dispose of a virtual asset without needing customer authorization.Virtual assets in annotationsFurthermore, companies are obligated to disclose their virtual asset transactions and holdings in annotations to the financial statement. This requirement ensures that users of corporate accounting information have sufficient details. Public companies holding virtual assets for investment purposes must state the basis for classifying the assets as assets or liabilities. They must also provide the book and market values of their virtual assets in their financial statements.Companies that have created or issued virtual assets are required to provide comprehensive information about the quantity and characteristics of these assets. They must also explain their revenue recognition methodology in the event of asset sales. Companies must provide disclosure regarding the historical utilization of cryptocurrencies that have been issued but remain unsold. This disclosure includes various factors such as portfolios and volumes.VASPs must disclose the volume and market value of virtual assets entrusted to them by customers for each asset, regardless of whether these assets are recognized as assets or liabilities. VASPs also have to provide information about the level of protection measures they have implemented to mitigate risks such as hacking.The FSC expects that these measures will enable readers of financial statements to make meaningful comparisons between VASPs while ensuring the provision of reliable information.The accounting guidelines, after incorporating industry feedback, are expected to undergo deliberations and resolutions by both the accounting standards review committee and the Korean Securities and Futures Commission, as per local news outlet Kyunghyang Shinmun. Once the guidelines receive final approval, they will be promulgated and implemented immediately. This process is anticipated to take place between October and November.Meanwhile, the inclusion of virtual asset disclosures in the annotations of financial statements will be enforced next January.

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