UK’s Standard Chartered Partners with AirAsia Founder over Stablecoin Plans

Capital A, the operator behind AirAsia, and Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia signed a letter of intent to launch a ringgit-backed stablecoin. The plan, announced on December 12, will be carried out through a digital asset innovation hub supervised by Bank Negara Malaysia.

According to the announcement, Standard Chartered Malaysia would create, test, and issue the stablecoin. Capital A is expected to test real world wholesale use cases for the token.

Capital A CEO Tony Fernandes said the partnership with Standard Chartered supports the group’s plan to become a broad tech driven ecosystem. Notably, this is his company’s first move into the crypto market.

The deal follows a similar move by a Malaysian royal who recently introduced a separate ringgit-backed stablecoin to modernize payments nationwide. Both high-profile moves have drawn wide attention in the country’s growing crypto community.

The Malaysian government has also shown steady support for clearer crypto rules. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has encouraged cooperation between the Securities agency and the central bank to build a framework for asset tokenization and explore stablecoin infrastructure.

Standard Chartered Expands Partnership with Coinbase

Standard Chartered also revealed on Dec. 12 that it has widened its partnership with Coinbase for institutional clients. The two firms plan to explore trading, prime services, custody, staking, and lending.

This builds on their existing deal in Singapore, where Standard Chartered provides banking links that allow real time SGD transfers for Coinbase users.

UK Faces Rising Tension

While Standard Chartered moves forward in Asia, its home country is facing uncertainty around stablecoin rules. On December 11, a cross party group of UK lawmakers urged Chancellor Rachel Reeves to block recent proposals from the Bank of England.

The plan by BOE would place temporary caps on stablecoin holdings at £20,000 for individuals and £10 million for companies. It would also require issuers of pound tied tokens to keep 40% of reserves as unpaid deposits at the central bank.

Experts called the proposal too strict, and said the UK is falling behind countries like the US, where President Donald Trump has already implemented stablecoin rules.

Banks and fintech firms continue to show interest in stablecoins as a new form of payment. The global stablecoin market cap is about $317.7 billion as of writing.

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