Israel Approves Shekel-Pegged Stablecoin BILS
Israel’s regulator approved Bits of Gold’s shekel-pegged stablecoin BILS after a two-year Solana pilot; reserves must be held in designated Israeli bank accounts.
Israel’s Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority approved Bits of Gold’s shekel-pegged stablecoin, BILS, in a Monday notice following a two-year pilot on the Solana blockchain. The regulator specified that the coin’s reserve assets must be held in designated, separate accounts in Israel.
Bits of Gold ran the pilot on Solana and will keep the fiat reserves that back BILS in Israeli bank accounts set aside for that purpose. The approval clears the way for BILS to operate as a regulated shekel-backed digital token on-chain.
The project was developed as part of an effort by the Israel Tax Authority and the Finance Ministry to set rules for crypto activity, including certain stablecoin operations. The regulator’s notice requires reserves to be stored locally in segregated accounts and cites custody and oversight of the backing funds.
Youval Rouach, founder and CEO of Bits of Gold, described BILS as “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.”
The global stablecoin market had a capitalization above $320 billion at the time of publication and is dominated by U.S. dollar-pegged tokens such as Tether’s USDT. BILS is among the first stablecoins pegged to the Israeli shekel. The shekel was at a roughly 30-year high against the U.S. dollar, around 1 ILS to 0.34 USD when the approval was announced.
The approval permits on-chain uses such as instant payments and trading denominated in shekels. The regulator’s local-reserve requirement aims to make audits and supervision more straightforward by keeping backing funds in Israeli accounts reserved for that purpose.
In the United States, lawmakers are negotiating provisions on stablecoin yield and tokenized equities within broader market-structure legislation. That bill has been stalled in the Senate since July 2025 and awaits a markup by the chamber’s banking committee.
The material on GNcrypto is intended solely for informational use and must not be regarded as financial advice. We make every effort to keep the content accurate and current, but we cannot warrant its precision, completeness, or reliability. GNcrypto does not take responsibility for any mistakes, omissions, or financial losses resulting from reliance on this information. Any actions you take based on this content are done at your own risk. Always conduct independent research and seek guidance from a qualified specialist. For further details, please review our Terms, Privacy Policy and Disclaimers.
Articles by this author
