MAS to settle tokenised bills using wholesale digital dollar
Source: Fintech News SG
Singapore's central bank will settle tokenised government bills with a wholesale CBDC, a plan its managing director set out at an October summit.
Singapore's central bank plans to let tokenised government securities change hands with settlement in a wholesale form of its own digital currency. Chia Der Jiun, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, laid out the roadmap during an INSEAD summit on digital finance and agentic AI held on 9 October. The aim is a shared rail where tokenised assets and central bank money sit side by side, giving trades finality.
The wholesale Singapore dollar CBDC was made available in 2025 through the Singapore dollar Test Network. DBS, OCBC and UOB were the first to try it, squaring off overnight interbank loans between themselves. MAS also runs BLOOM, an industry collaboration on home and cross-border payments built on tokenised deposits and stablecoins that meet its rulebook.
Chia's argument is that as private digital money scales up, official digital currency becomes the anchor for monetary stability. On stablecoins, the regulator has consulted on draft law changes to operationalise its single-currency framework, covering reserves, capital buffers, redemption and disclosure. Commercial tokenisation work continues under Project Guardian, although uptake is still concentrated in small clusters, while the Global Layer One effort is drafting common standards so distinct digital networks can interoperate.
For banks and fintechs, the signal is that settlement plumbing is being readied ahead of demand. Builders of tokenised products may get a clearer route to finality, yet stablecoin issuers should expect firmer requirements. The SAFR white paper, now at version 1.1, plus an open-source reference implementation for controlling AI agents that execute transactions, point to where supervision is heading.
Why it matters for Singapore: The city-state's pitch as a digital asset hub rests on rails the state is willing to operate itself, so MAS shifting from trial to production matters. Pairing CBDC work with guardrails for AI agents that move money shows policy and innovation advancing together. For companies choosing where to build, that kind of predictability is the draw.
