Stablecoins are becoming part of the digital financial infrastructure, shaped by regulatory developments and institutional adoption. In Singapore, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has finalised a regulatory regime for stablecoins and supported industry pilots as part of its broader digital money agenda. StraitsX operates within this environment, focusing on the infrastructure and compliance systems required to bring stablecoins into regulated finance. “At our core, we are a payment infrastructure company,” said Liu Tianwei, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of StraitsX. “People know us for our stablecoins today, but those who have worked with us over the years know us as one of the main payment infrastructure providers for cryptocurrency exchanges across Asia Pacific.” StraitsX began by supporting virtual asset transactions and later applied blockchain to address cross-border inefficiencies. “By 2021, after five years of building payment systems, we realised that blockchain could address long-standing problems in cross-border payments,” Liu said. This led StraitsX to explore and develop a model in which blockchain could serve as a compliant settlement layer, operating alongside traditional systems with built-in auditability and safeguards. The firm now issues stablecoins linked to the Singapore dollar (XSGD), US dollar (XUSD) and Indonesian rupiah (XIDR). According to the company, XSGD and XUSD are issued in Singapore and substantively compliant under the upcoming Single-Currency Stablecoin (SCS) regulatory framework. Both stablecoins are fully backed by fiat reserves. Building trust through compliance and banking partnerships StraitsX has structured its business around regulatory compliance and integration with the banking system, which Liu identifies as fundamental to institutional engagement. He outlines three pillars of the firm’s approach: adherence to regulation, partnerships with licensed banks, and real-world use cases. “Striving to be fully compliant with local regulations is a journey, not a switch,” Liu noted. The company worked with MAS to align its operational processes with legal and supervisory requirements while maintaining the flexibility to evolve. “We were fortunate that MAS has been extremely forward-looking,” he said. “That clarity gave us the confidence to build for institutional adoption from day one.” Liu said StraitsX aims to demonstrate that stablecoins can follow the same governance principles as e-money and licensed payment service providers, giving banks and other regulated entities a framework for collaboration. “It’s part of our DNA,” he said. “Our partnerships with banks like DBS and Standard Chartered give users access to on- and off-ramps connecting blockchain assets with the traditional financial system.” According to the company, these relationships ensure its stablecoins are fully backed by regulated reserves and redeemable through licensed banking channels. Liu positions stablecoins as a natural extension of digital payments. “Well-regulated stablecoins are really e-money on the blockchain,” he said. “The same safeguards apply, but the ledger is decentralised, auditable, and operates in real time.” By presenting stablecoins in this context, StraitsX seeks to help regulators and financial institutions assess them using familiar standards of governance, liquidity management and consumer protection. The company frames blockchain not as a replacement for the traditional system, but as an enhancement to regulated financial infrastructure. Finding stablecoins’ place in the new money stack With its technical and compliance foundation in place, StraitsX began outlining how stablecoins operate alongside other forms of digital money. Liu describes this architecture as a triangle comprising central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), tokenised bank deposits and stablecoins. “Most central banks have concluded that CBDCs will remain wholesale instruments used for interbank and cross-border settlement,” he said. “Tokenised deposits act like private ledgers within a bank’s ecosystem, while stablecoins function more like e-money: open, efficient, and suitable for a wide range of applications.” He compares these models to different modes of transport. “Each one gets you to the same place, but at different speeds and costs,” Liu explained. He argues that stablecoins offer additional flexibility because their architecture supports faster product development cycles while remaining under supervisory control. StraitsX is a participant in Singapore’s digital money pilots. Liu said the company has been involved since the early stages of Project Orchid and is now contributing to BLOOM. This MAS-led initiative includes regulated banks, licensed issuers and technology firms such as DBS, J.P. Morgan, Standard Chartered, UOB, Circle, Temasek and StraitsX. It is structured as an industry pilot exploring how multi-currency digital settlement infrastructure could operate. BLOOM focuses on integrating tokenised commercial bank money and regulated stablecoins across domestic and cross-border use cases. It also explores interoperable rails, programmable compliance mechanisms and agentic payments, where systems execute transactions automatically under predefined rules. Proving value through real-world payments StraitsX highlights its partnership with Grab and Alipay+ as an example of stablecoins in production use. The collaboration allows consumers in Singapore to make payments at Grab merchants using their preferred e-wallets, with each transaction settled in XSGD. “It shows why domestic stablecoins are important,” Liu said. “They allow instant settlement and remove foreign exchange risk. Traditional systems can take days to clear, but stablecoins combine both payment and settlement in one step.” He adds that blockchain-based settlement can improve financial infrastructure without requiring visible changes to the user experience. “Stablecoins make cross-border settlement as instantaneous as communication. They remove the friction between communication and settlement,” he said. StraitsX continues to invest in technologies that support interoperability. Liu envisions a financial system comprising multiple networks that operate in parallel. “The world will be multi-chain,” he said. “Some networks will be public, others permissioned. What matters is that they interconnect so that value can move freely between them.” He said StraitsX is building infrastructure designed to function across these varied environments. Unlocking the next phase through programmability Liu identifies programmability as a defining feature of the next phase of digital currency development and points to foreign exchange as an emerging use case. He refers to on-chain systems where developers are building applications that enable stablecoin-to-stablecoin conversion, with automated execution and real-time pricing. “We’re already seeing stablecoin-to-stablecoin foreign exchange happening fully on-chain,” he said. “Developers can build systems that swap one currency for another automatically, with prices updating in real time. That’s a fundamental shift for cross-border finance.” Liu also connects programmability with the rise of automation in finance, positioning stablecoins as a medium for agent-initiated payments. “AI will bring about generative payments,” he explained. “Machines or digital agents will be able to initiate transactions under set parameters. That’s machine-to-machine and agent-to-agent finance, enabled by programmable money.” He describes stablecoins as the transactional layer that will underpin these automated financial systems. These developments build on earlier progress in regulatory oversight, banking integration and digital asset design. Liu said stablecoins have moved from a technical concept to a regulated financial instrument capable of supporting real-time settlement and automated workflows in compliant environments. Rethinking financial infrastructure for the next decade StraitsX’s development trajectory reflects how digital financial infrastructure is evolving through regulatory alignment, industry collaboration and applied technology. The company presents its approach as a model for how stablecoins, tokenised deposits and CBDCs can operate within a unified framework. Singapore’s regulatory stance is cited as a reference case for integrating liquidity, compliance and programmability under supervisory clarity. The next phase of digital finance will require consistent regulation, aligned technical standards and cross-market coordination. StraitsX’s experience contributes to the broader effort to establish digital money systems that operate with the transparency, reliability and interoperability expected of core financial infrastructure.
