UK, Singapore, and Thailand central banks test cross-border FX settlement as stablecoins gain ground

The Bank of England, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Bank of Thailand have completed Project Meridian FX APAC, a joint pilot demonstrating cross-border foreign exchange settlement coordinated across conventional payment systems and blockchain-based infrastructure. The project tested synchronization between traditional real-time gross settlement rails and distributed ledger-based settlement assets, aiming to reduce settlement risk and cut the time and cost of cross-currency transactions. The trial comes as stablecoins gain traction in cross-border payments, pressuring central banks to show that tokenized settlement can interoperate with existing systems. Participating institutions have not disclosed transaction volumes or notional values tested. Next, watch whether the three central banks move the design toward production use and whether other jurisdictions join the framework as stablecoin-based payment corridors expand.