Israel Approves First Shekel-Backed Stablecoin BILS: After a Two-Year Solana Pilot, It Goes Live

According to a report on April 28 by CoinDesk, Israel’s Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority has officially approved the local exchange Bits of Gold to issue the stablecoin BILS—Israel’s first regulated fiat-backed stablecoin that is pegged 1:1 to the shekel (NIS). Issued on the Solana blockchain, BILS has passed a regulatory sandbox pilot that lasted for up to two years and has now officially entered a limited-scale mainnet launch phase.

BILS: First shekel-on-chain, with Solana as the underlying layer

Key specifications for BILS:

Issuer: Bits of Gold (Israel’s long-established local crypto exchange)

Peg: 1:1 full collateralization with the Israeli shekel (NIS)

Underlying chain: Solana (high throughput, low fees)

Regulatory framework: the “rulebook” set by Israel’s Capital Market, Insurance and Savings Authority

Collateral asset requirements: must be held in segregated accounts designated within Israel

For the global stablecoin market, this is yet another local fiat stablecoin approved under a national-level regulatory framework after USDT, USDC (US dollars), KlarnaUSD (US dollars), JPYC (Japanese yen), and HKDM (Hong Kong dollars). The shekel is one of the strongest fiat currencies in the Middle East (relatively stable versus the US dollar over the past decade), and this approval is the first time this fiat currency has been directly connected to global blockchain infrastructure.

Two-year regulatory sandbox pilot: a path that tests first, launches after

BILS’s approval is not a “overnight” policy decision, but the result of verification through a two-year regulatory sandbox pilot. The process design is worth other countries learning from:

Starting in 2024, Bits of Gold conducts BILS limited-cap pilot trades within a regulated sandbox

The regulator monitors in parallel: whether collateral segregation is effective, whether KYC/AML is implemented, and whether technical systems are stable

In April 2026, official approval is granted to enter the “limited-scale mainnet launch” phase—meaning there is still certain quota and user restrictions, not full openness

Decide whether to expand scale based on how the market performs in the future

This phased approach differs from the “comprehensive legislation followed by one-time approval” model used by the US GENIUS Act, the EU MiCA, Japan’s JPYC, and Taiwan’s VASP draft—Israel has chosen a more pragmatic method of “pilot first, regulate as we learn.”

Use cases: liquidity, foreign exchange, smart contracts, cross-border remittances

The regulatory documents explicitly define the scope of BILS’s lawful applications:

1. Provide liquidity. Provide NIS-denominated trading pairs in DeFi protocols and crypto exchanges.

2. Foreign exchange trading. BILS trades against major fiat-pegged stablecoins such as USDC; Israeli retail users and institutions can hedge FX risk on-chain.

3. Execute smart contracts. On-chain contracts denominated in BILS and automated cash flows (salaries, collateralized loans, insurance claim payouts).

4. Global shekel transfers. Cross-border remittances, remittances to Israel from overseas Israelis, and international business payments—this is the use case with the greatest scale potential. Israel’s tech industry and global (especially US) capital flows are frequent, and traditional SWIFT routes are not ideal in terms of cost and speed.

Signals for Middle East fintech and the stablecoin industry

Three layers of meaning behind BILS approval:

For Israel: a clear signal of its fintech regulatory stance—supporting local innovation while moving regulatory risk ahead of time.

For the Middle East region: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Qatar have also been studying nationally regulated stablecoins in recent years, but no Arab country has approved a homegrown fiat stablecoin yet. By moving first, Israel may accelerate regional competition—next up could be the UAE (a Dirham stablecoin).

For the global stablecoin market: in 2026, “non-USD fiat stablecoins” will accelerate noticeably. Western Union is also expected to issue USDPT in May. The next steps are for major fiat currencies like EUR, GBP, and KRW to complete local regulatory approvals one after another—this means the global stablecoin market will shift from “US dollars dominating” to a “multi-fiat coexistence” stage.

Next observation point: after BILS goes live, the circulating supply 90 days in, trading pair depth, and the price stability against USDC. If within three months BILS circulating supply exceeds the equivalent of $100 million, that would be an important case of “scalable non-USD stablecoins.”

This article, Israel Approves Its First Shekel Stablecoin BILS: Solana Runs a Two-Year Pilot Before Going Live, first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.