PANews reported on December 12th that, according to Bloomberg, AirAsia's operator has signed an agreement with Standard Chartered Bank's Malaysian branch to explore issuing a stablecoin backed by the Malaysian ringgit in the Southeast Asian country. This comes several days after a member of the Malaysian royal family announced the launch of a similar token .

According to a statement released on Friday, Capital A, founded by AirAsia founder Tony Fernandes, signed a letter of intent with Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia to jointly develop and test a stablecoin through the Digital Asset Innovation Centre regulated by Bank Negara Malaysia. The statement indicated that Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia will act as the issuer of the stablecoin, while Capital A may initially pilot wholesale use cases in real-world scenarios. This marks Capital A's first foray into the regulated digital asset space.