StraitsX: Singapore's regulated stablecoin infrastructure, building a cross-border network across Asia
Moving the global map to Asia, the clearest example of the regulated stablecoin-infrastructure model is StraitsX. Where Yellow Card built Africa's network and Ripio and Bitso built Latin America's, StraitsX is building Asia's — and it is doing so from one of the most demanding regulatory environments in the world, Singapore.
StraitsX is what this industry looks like when it is built to institutional standard from the start. It is not a retail trading story. It is a payments-infrastructure company that issues regulated stablecoins and is assembling a cross-border settlement network across the region.
Who StraitsX is
StraitsX describes itself, simply and accurately, as a payment infrastructure company. Based in Singapore, it issues a family of regulated, fully fiat-backed stablecoins: a Singapore dollar stablecoin (XSGD), a US dollar stablecoin (XUSD), and an Indonesian rupiah stablecoin (XIDR). Its Singapore-issued stablecoins are built to comply with the Monetary Authority of Singapore's single-currency stablecoin framework — one of the clearest and most respected stablecoin regimes anywhere.
That regulatory foundation is the point. Singapore is to Asian digital finance what Hong Kong is becoming for Greater China: the trusted, well-regulated hub. A company issuing fully reserved, MAS-aligned stablecoins from Singapore carries a credibility that matters enormously to the banks and enterprises StraitsX serves.
The growth and the network
The momentum is striking. Between 2024 and 2025, StraitsX saw a roughly 40-fold surge in stablecoin payment transaction volume and an 83-fold increase in card issuance through its infrastructure — its rails power stablecoin-linked cards for partners that processed billions in volume. This is not theoretical adoption; it is real payments running through a regulated stablecoin network.
More important strategically is what StraitsX is building next: the StraitsX Payment Network, a cross-border settlement network designed to deliver real-time, FX-transparent settlement across Asia, beginning with enhanced connectivity between Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan. It has partnered with major regional banks — including one of Thailand's largest, KBank — to bring stablecoin-based settlement into existing payment channels, with real-time currency conversion. And it is bringing its XSGD and XUSD stablecoins onto high-speed blockchain rails to support faster, cheaper settlement.
In other words, StraitsX is doing precisely what a regional liquidity network does: issuing regulated stablecoins, integrating local rails and banks, and stitching corridors together into a cross-border settlement network — all from a top-tier regulatory base.
What it means for GDT and the thesis
StraitsX confirms the model on a fourth continent and adds an important refinement. Like Yellow Card, Ripio, and Bitso, it owns licences, local rails, liquidity, and flows. But StraitsX demonstrates the institutional, hub-based version of the model — built in Singapore, to MAS standards, serving banks and enterprises rather than retail. It is the Asian counterpart to the high-end, regulated approach, and it shows that the stablecoin-infrastructure thesis is not confined to frontier or crisis markets. It works at the most sophisticated end of the spectrum too.
For my own work, StraitsX is both a benchmark and a glimpse of the connected future. Its payment network — Singapore to Thailand to Taiwan to Japan, with transparent FX and real-time settlement — is exactly the kind of multi-corridor, multi-currency network that the whole industry is converging toward. The orchestration layer I describe is, in essence, the connective tissue between networks like StraitsX in Asia, Yellow Card in Africa, and Ripio and Bitso in Latin America.
My read
StraitsX is one of the most credible companies in Asian digital finance, precisely because it built on the regulatory high ground rather than around it. Issuing MAS-aligned stablecoins and partnering with major regional banks is a slower path than launching an unregulated product, but it is the durable one — and the explosive growth in its payment volumes shows that institutions move quickly once the regulatory foundation is solid.
For a business with genuinely global ambitions, StraitsX is the Asian anchor of the map: proof that the regulated stablecoin network model works at the highest standard, in one of the world's most important financial hubs. Africa, Latin America, and now Asia each have their champions. The remaining prize is the layer that connects them.