Israel’s financial market regulator approved the issuance of a stablecoin pegged to the shekel. The token will be issued by crypto platform Bits of Gold after two years of testing on the Solana blockchain.
The Israel Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority (CMISA) authorized the launch of the BILS stablecoin, which will be pegged to the country’s national currency. The regulator confirmed that the asset underwent a comprehensive review and received approval to launch in a limited format with a predefined issuance cap.
The stablecoin will be backed 1:1 by reserve assets denominated in shekels. These reserves will be held in segregated accounts at local financial institutions, ensuring transparency and user protection. The operating model includes strict requirements for risk management, cybersecurity, and regular reporting to the regulator.
According to Youval Rouach, CEO of Bits of Gold, the issuer of BILS, the stablecoin is designed to create a direct link between Israel’s national currency and the global digital economy, enabling real-time settlements, on-chain trading, and the development of programmable financial services.
The initiative is part of a broader policy by the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Authority to establish regulatory frameworks for Israel’s crypto market. The project is seen as one of the first steps toward building a regulated stablecoin infrastructure in the country, capable of accelerating settlements between financial institutions and expanding the use of blockchain technology in the traditional financial system.
The launch comes amid rapid growth in the stablecoin market, whose capitalization exceeded $313 billion in 2025. While around 97% of the sector’s total market cap is made up of dollar-pegged stablecoins, the non-dollar stablecoin market reached $1.2 billion, growing more than 30 times over the past year. Meanwhile, the Bank of Israel is actively advancing its Digital Shekel initiative, having presented the technical architecture of a future CBDC in 2025.
