The eldest son of the king of Malaysia issued coins! RMJDT, the first ringgit stablecoin, challenges USDT supremacy

Bullish Aim Sdn Bhd, wholly owned by Malaysian Johor Regent Tunku Ismail (TMJ), officially launched the stablecoin “RMJDT” pegged 1:1 to the ringgit (MYR) on December 9. It is the first ringgit stablecoin in Malaysia to be backed by an official regulatory sandbox, and is 100% backed by cash deposits and short-term Malaysian government bonds.

Regulatory Sandbox Framework for Royal Endorsement

! Malaysian King’s Eldest Son Issuance

(Source: The Star)

Bullish Aim is wholly owned by TMJ, the Regent of Johor, the eldest son of the current King of Malaysia, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar. This royal backing provides RMJDT with a political endorsement that no other Malaysian stablecoin project can match. In Malaysia’s political system, the sultans of nine states take turns as kings, and Johor is one of the most economically developed states, and its regent’s business projects often receive implicit support from the government.

The project is being developed under the framework of the “Regulatory Sandbox” jointly launched by the Securities Supervisory Commission Malaysia (SC) and Bank Negara Malaysia in June 2025. The Regulatory Sandbox is an innovative regulatory tool that allows fintech projects to test products and services in a controlled environment while enjoying certain regulatory exemptions. This means that although RMJDT is an emerging product, it has already received dual endorsement from the central bank and securities regulators.

The sandbox focuses on innovative applications of digital assets such as programmable payments and supply chain finance, and is an officially recognized regulated pilot project. Programmable payments refer to embedding smart contract logic into the payment process to achieve conditionally triggered automatic payments. For example, in supply chain finance, RMJDT can be automatically transferred from the buyer’s account to the seller after the goods pass customs inspection and are confirmed on-chain, without the need for manual intervention and banking intermediaries.

This regulatory sandbox status places RMJDT far ahead of other uncertified stablecoin projects in terms of legal certainty. Companies participating in the sandbox regularly report operational data to regulators and undergo compliance reviews, but at the same time enjoy the flexibility to experiment with new business models. If RMJDT performs well during the sandbox, it may obtain a full financial services license in the future and become an officially licensed stablecoin.

Technical support for Zetrix national public chain

RMJDT is built on Zetrix (formerly MyEG’s blockchain), a national Layer-1 public chain in Malaysia, with high throughput and national security-level security design. Zetrix is not an emerging public chain, but a technology infrastructure that the Malaysian government has used in digital identity, e-government, and smart city projects for many years. MyEG is Malaysia’s largest e-government service provider, and its blockchain technology has been validated in government services such as driver’s license renewal and foreign labor management.

The choice of Zetrix over Ethereum or other international public chains reflects Malaysia’s technological sovereignty considerations. Against the backdrop of increasingly sensitive issues of Sino-US technology competition and data sovereignty, many countries have begun to pay attention to the autonomy and controllability of critical financial infrastructure. Zetrix’s national security-level security design means that its node operations, data storage, and network monitoring all comply with Malaysia’s national security standards, which are difficult for foreign public chains to meet.

High throughput is Zetrix’s technical guarantee to support large-scale commercial applications. Cross-border payments and supply chain finance involve massive transactions, and if the performance of the public chain is insufficient, it will lead to transaction congestion and soaring handling fees. The specific performance parameters of Zetrix are not disclosed, but as a government-level infrastructure, its design goal should be to support digital economy activities across the country.

Three Technical Features of RMJDT

1:1 Fully Collateralized: 100% backed by cash deposits and short-term Malaysian government bonds, ensuring ready redemption

Zetrix Native Issuance: Issued on a national-level public chain, complies with data sovereignty and regulatory requirements, and transaction records can be officially audited

Smart Contract Embedding: Supports programmable payments and condition-triggered settlements, reducing trust costs for cross-border trade

Lion Peh, Managing Director of Bullish Aim, said: “RMJDT aims to become the national standard for crypto payments in Malaysia, making transactions faster, more secure, and less expensive. It will significantly increase the ringgit’s use in international cross-border trade and attract more foreign direct investment (FDI), which is fully in line with the Malaysian government’s national policy to promote digital assets.”

DAT Strategy Locks in Zetrix Ecosystem Expansion

Announcing at the same time as RMJDT is the “Digital Asset Treasury Company” (DAT) established by Bullish Aim, with an initial capital injection of RM50 million (approximately US$1.21 million) to purchase Zetrix’s native token, which is planned to expand to RM100 million in the future. This move is similar to MicroStrategy’s (MSTR) strategy of holding Bitcoin, but the main goal is to stabilize the gas fees of the RMJDT ecosystem and support its long-term development.

This DAT strategy is extremely rare in stablecoin projects. Most stablecoin issuers focus on the issuance and redemption of stablecoins themselves, and rarely invest in the native tokens of the underlying public chain at the same time. Bullish Aim’s strategy demonstrates its long-term commitment to the Zetrix ecosystem, where purchasing native tokens not only stabilizes gas fees but also shares the benefits of the growth of the public chain ecosystem through token appreciation.

The initial investment of RM50 million is quite impressive. If all of this funds are used to purchase Zetrix tokens, it will significantly impact the market supply and demand of the token. If Zetrix’s circulating market value is small, this large-scale buying could drive up the token’s price and attract more investors and developers to pay attention to the Zetrix ecosystem. The expansion to RM100 million underscores Bullish Aim’s long-term ambitions.

Strategically, the establishment of DAT is also a preparation for the large-scale use of RMJDT. When the use of RMJDT in cross-border payments and trade settlements increases, the transaction volume of the Zetrix network will grow in tandem, and the demand for gas fees will also rise. Hoarding Zetrix native tokens in advance ensures that Bullish Aim has enough reserves to cover future network usage costs while also profiting from token appreciation.

Huge Opportunities in the Asia-Pacific Cross-border Payments Market

The Asia-Pacific region is the fastest growing region in the world, with huge demand for cross-border trade and labor remittances. As the third largest economy in Southeast Asia, Malaysia has frequent trade exchanges with China, India, Singapore, Indonesia and other countries. Traditional cross-border payments rely on the SWIFT system, which typically takes 3 to 5 business days, with fees ranging from 3% to 7% of the transfer amount.

RMJDT aims to compress this process to minutes, with fees below 0.1%. If successful, it will significantly reduce trade costs for businesses, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Additionally, Malaysia has over 200 foreign workers who send billions of dollars back home every year. If RMJDT can enter this market, it will save these workers a lot of fees.