The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will launch trials to issue and settle tokenized Treasury bills using a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), an initiative designed to reduce settlement risk and modernize market processes. The effort involves banks, fund managers and payment infrastructures, with a pilot planned for 2026.
MAS has expanded its tokenization program under Project Guardian, bringing together financial institutions and international partners to explore tokenized assets and their settlement with CBDC. The central bank expects to operationalize a wholesale CBDC test network in November 2025 and has already completed a live trial for the settlement of overnight interbank loans using that same CBDC.
The project’s scope includes pilot issuances of tokenized Treasury bills and government bonds settled “atomically” with wholesale CBDC. Atomic settlement means asset and cash exchange occurs simultaneously and indivisibly, reducing counterparty risk.
Project Guardian is also testing the tokenization of investment funds and exploring equity use cases, aiming to facilitate distribution, fractionalization and operational efficiency.
What is the scope of CBDC testing?
Major institutions such as JPMorgan, DBS, ANZ and HSBC are participating, and MAS has signed memoranda of understanding with centers like the Deutsche Bundesbank. Joint initiatives to synchronize FX settlements with the Bank of England and the Bank of Thailand signal a push for cross-border interoperability, not just domestic improvements.
MAS complements these trials with regulatory frameworks: it promotes the BLOOM initiative for regulated stablecoins and tokenized bank liabilities, tightens rules on stablecoins, develops guidance for tokenized capital markets products, and has launched the Singapore Payments Network (SPaN) to avoid fragmentation of national payment schemes.
A wholesale CBDC test network is expected to be operational in November 2025, reflecting the testnet and the completed overnight loans trial. MAS plans a pilot of tokenized Treasury bills in 2026. Participation includes global banks and bilateral agreements with central banks, while on regulation MAS advances BLOOM and tighter stablecoin rules.
