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

Project Meridian FX APAC said it demonstrated how transactions can be coordinated across conventional settlement systems and those built using blockchain technology.

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• Nov 14, 2026, 10:00 a.m. EST
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The Bank of England and its counterparts in Singapore and Thailand demonstrated how to coordinate cross-border currency payments across conventional and blockchain-based systems without requiring identical infrastructure, they announced Friday.

The experiment tested safeguards that make one currency’s transfer conditional on the other’s and let banks offset payment obligations, reducing settlement risk and liquidity needs.

The Bank of England plans to introduce a live synchronization interface in 2028, but commercial deployment requires further work on legal arrangements, regulatory oversight and broader participation.

The Bank of England and its counterparts in Singapore and Thailand have demonstrated a way to make cross-border foreign exchange (FX) transactions safer and more efficient, aiming to address longstanding weaknesses in traditional financial infrastructure as stablecoins emerge as alternative payment rails.

Project Meridian FX APAC demonstrated how transactions can be coordinated across conventional settlement systems and those built using blockchain technology, without requiring institutions to adopt identical infrastructure, the Bank of England said on Friday.

The project tested payment-versus-payment (PvP) settlement, ensuring that one currency changes only when the corresponding payment in another currency also takes place.

The experiment also tested multilateral netting, allowing banks to offset payment obligations rather than settling every transaction individually, reducing their liquidity requirements.

The works comes as stablecoins increasingly offer an alternative to conventional cross-border payments, promising faster transfers and around-the-clock availability.

"Project Meridian FX APAC provides practical evidence of how synchronised settlement could help reduce risk and improve efficiency in cross-border FX transactions," said Tom Mutton, the Bank of England's executive director of payments, innovation and fintech.

The Bank of England plans to introduce a live synchronisation interface in 2028, although further work is needed on legal arrangements, regulatory oversight and broader participation before the technology can be deployed commercially.

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Diversified RWA stablecoins sustain 5-7% yield from real credit as crypto funding compresses to ~4%. GENIUS pushes yield off-chain; TAM grows to $4B in 3 years.

Why it matters

Diversified RWA stablecoins sustain 5-7% yield from real credit as crypto funding compresses to ~4%. GENIUS pushes yield off-chain; TAM grows to $4B in 3 years.