September 26, 2025
By Our Correspondent
The first stablecoin backed by the Singapore dollar will be available to Coinbase users in Singapore and worldwide starting next week.
According to a statement released by Coinbase and XSGD issuer StraitsX on September 24, users of Coinbase and Coinbase Advanced will be able to buy XSGD starting at 3am in Singapore on September 30.
By tying its value to a currency, commodity, or financial instrument, stablecoins are a subset of cryptocurrencies that seek to reduce price volatility. According to BlackRock, they account for roughly 7% of the cryptocurrency market share.
Through legislative actions, Singapore and Hong Kong have been attempting to gain a share of the US$250 billion ($322 billion) stablecoin industry.
Reserves maintained with Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank provide a 1:1 complete backing for the XSGD stablecoin. According to Coinbase and StraitsX, it will enable real-time local and cross-border transfers, facilitating quicker, less expensive, and more accessible financial services.
According to a May report by blockchain and cryptocurrency solutions company Ripple, cross-border trade in Asia is predicted to reach US$4 trillion (S$5.2 trillion) by 2030. According to the report, regulated stablecoins like XSGD are essential for facilitating compliant, transparent, and real-time value exchange between marketplaces.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has recognized the XSGD stablecoin, which has been issued by digital payment infrastructure provider StraitsX since 2020, as being substantively consistent with the future Single Currency Stablecoin legal framework.
As of 2024, Coinbase, the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, held the title of largest Bitcoin custodian. In Singapore, it also has an MPI license.
“We are dismantling the USD-centric barriers that have long restricted on-chain FX markets by providing smooth, direct access to local currency stablecoins,” stated Liu Tianwei, co-founder and CEO of StraitsX.
With $1 equaling one XSGD, the adoption of XSGD will enable people and companies in Singapore to maintain and deal in digital assets in the Republic’s currency.
Access to XSGD via the Singaporean exchange, according to StraitsX and Coinbase, will also give local business owners more access to the global financial system by facilitating smooth and speedy foreign exchange (forex) transactions.
Additionally, Base, the low-cost Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain that Coinbase is incubating and which brings FX transactions on-chain, will issue the stablecoin.
XSGD will be accessible to users via Base’s decentralized exchanges. The presence of XSGD on Base will also enable permissionless, round-the-clock on-chain FX transactions powered by artificial intelligence agents.
The creation of an XSGD/USDC pool on Aerodrome, the main liquidity hub on the Base network, with liquidity incentives backed by both Aerodrome and the Base ecosystem, will be a “key part” of the Base roll-out. Another stablecoin that is based on the US dollar is USDC.
At the moment, StraitsX offers XSGD directly as well as via public blockchains like XRP Ledger and centralized exchanges like Bitstamp.
