A Bank and an Airline Parent Try a Ringgit Stablecoin — Why investors should care

A pilot announced and who it aims to serve

Standard Chartered (STAN) and Capital A announced they are exploring a pilot for a ringgit-backed stablecoin aimed mainly at institutional and wholesale users. The project is still in an early stage: think proof of concept rather than a public token listing. The idea is simple — create a digital token that represents one ringgit, backed by reserves, and use that token for faster settlement, cross-border flows and corporate treasury tasks.

Target users will likely be banks, large corporates and payment platforms rather than everyday retail customers. For Capital A, the parent of AirAsia, the attraction is a cleaner, faster way to move money across its regional businesses. For Standard Chartered, this is a way to package traditional banking services — custody, FX and settlement — in a tokenised form that could sit alongside its existing wholesale product line.

How this could change FX liquidity, corporate treasury and crypto markets

If the pilot works, the immediate effect will be a small but meaningful boost to how ringgit liquidity is managed. Corporates that routinely move money across borders could get faster settlement and lower operational friction. That matters for a company like Capital A, which has frequent intra-group transfers and regional payments.

For investors, the visible winners would be firms that capture fees on issuance, custody and conversion — banks with existing custody and FX desks, payment platforms, and exchanges that accept the token. Standard Chartered could pick up incremental fee income from token issuance, reserve management and FX spread capture. Local banks or incumbent payment processors that are left out of the network could lose out, at least initially.

The move also signals to other banks in the region that stablecoins tied to local currencies are getting serious institutional attention. That may spur more pilots across Southeast Asia, increasing competition but also normalising tokenised local money for wholesale use. On crypto markets, this is a conservative, bank-centric approach: it will be less volatile than algorithmic tokens but only as trustworthy as the legal and reserve structure behind it.

Likely technical and operational choices that will matter to investors

Investors should focus on three technical choices that will determine whether the token is useful and safe. First, what exactly backs the token? The most credible option is a one-to-one backing in high-quality ringgit deposits or central-bank-redeemable assets. Anything weaker — pooled commercial paper or unsegregated reserves — will raise questions about redemption risk.

Second, custody and audit matter. If Standard Chartered holds reserves in segregated accounts with regular third-party attestation, the token will look much safer to institutional counterparties. Monthly proof-of-reserves and legal promises of redemption are common expectations in this space.

Third, settlement rails and token standards will shape adoption. A permissioned ledger or a consortium chain that links to domestic clearing (RTGS) and can interoperate with existing banking systems is the likeliest path for a bank-led pilot. Public chains offer reach but raise regulatory and liquidity risks. Token standards that support atomic swaps or fast on-chain redemption will be important for treasury teams considering the token.

Regulatory risks in Malaysia and cross-border compliance to watch

Malaysia’s authorities will tread carefully. Bank Negara Malaysia and the Securities Commission will want clear rules on the token’s legal status, reserve custody and redemption rights. They may limit how broadly the token can be used domestically and may restrict retail usage until a legal framework is in place.

Cross-border AML/KYC is another headache. A ringgit token that moves easily across borders will need strong controls on who can mint, hold and redeem it. For Standard Chartered, this raises prudential questions: could the bank be required to hold extra capital against token liabilities, or face limits on reserve placements? Those outcomes would change the economics of the project.

What to watch next and what it could mean for the companies involved

For investors in Standard Chartered, the pilot is strategically aligned with its wholesale digital ambitions. If the bank can scale issuance, custody fees and FX flows, the pilot could add a modest recurring revenue stream and cement its role in tokenised FX. But regulatory limits or weak reserve structures could prevent meaningful take-up, turning the project into a costly compliance exercise instead of a revenue driver.

For Capital A, the payoff is operational: cheaper, faster intra-group transfers and better working capital management. If the company uses the token to speed payments across Southeast Asia, the savings could be real — but they won’t show up immediately in headline profits.

Watch for a few clear milestones: publication of the pilot’s legal structure, who holds the reserves, whether an external auditor or custodian is named, and any formal guidance from Bank Negara or the Securities Commission. Those announcements will tell you whether this is a narrowly useful tool for a few corporates or the start of a broader push to tokenise local currency liquidity. My view: the idea is sensible and could be a win for Standard Chartered if regulators cooperate and the reserve model is conservative. But regulatory friction and execution risk are high — investors should read progress signals carefully, not assume fast adoption.

Sources

• cryptonews.com