Malaysia's central bank launches pilots for ringgit stablecoin, tokenized deposits

Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country's central bank, has initiated three pilot projects this year focused on a ringgit-backed stablecoin and tokenized deposits through its Digital Asset Innovation Hub (DAIH), according to local media outlet The Edge Malaysia. The projects include B2B payments using a ringgit stablecoin by Standard Chartered Malaysia and Capital A, as well as separate tokenized deposit payment trials by Maybank and CIMB. The central bank will primarily examine their use in domestic and international wholesale payments and the settlement of tokenized assets. BNM aims to use the findings to assess the potential impact on financial stability and plans to finalize usage standards for both the stablecoin and tokenized deposits by the end of the year. The bank also suggested a potential link between these initiatives and a future wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) project.