Israeli regulator approves shekel stablecoin BILS, enabling regulated on-chain payments

CMISA approved BILS, a shekel‑pegged stablecoin by Bits of Gold. The token completed a sandbox pilot on Solana (SOL) under the regulator’s oversight. CMISA

BILS received full regulatory approval from Israel’s Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority after a supervised pilot.

Reserves must sit in segregated accounts at Israeli banks. Foreign custody is barred. CMISA maintains direct audit access. CMISA

Pilot scope covered reserve management, custody, and on‑chain compliance. Coordination included the Tax Authority and Finance Ministry. CMISA

Oversight can move to the Bank of Israel if BILS becomes systemically important under payment system rules. CMISA

Use cases:
- Instant shekel payments
- On‑chain shekel trading
- Programmable finance

“Youval Rouach: ‘A direct bridge between the Israeli shekel and the global digital assets economy, enabling real-time payments, on-chain trading, and programmable financial applications based on a regulated local currency.’”

Market context: Stablecoin capitalization stood above $320B, concentrated in USDT and USDC. Coinspeaker

Headline
CMISA approves BILS shekel stablecoin; reserves kept at Israeli banks