Bank of England Picks Polygon Labs for Digital Pound Lab Phase 2

The Bank of England has chosen three companies to participate in the next phase of its Digital Pound Lab program. Polygon Labs, NOBO Finance, and Dun & Bradstreet will work together to test how a central bank digital pound and private stablecoins can settle different parts of cross-border trade deals.

The goal is to address a significant issue for small businesses that export and import goods: slow and costly trade finance due to verification being split across multiple parties and settlement taking days. While large companies can afford these delays, smaller firms face cash flow problems between shipping goods and receiving payment.

Polygon Labs will provide smart contracts for the SME Bankable Profile project, which creates a profile that small businesses can carry with them to lenders instead of re-submitting paperwork each time. Dun & Bradstreet will handle risk data, while NOBO Finance will focus on conditional B2B escrow payments.

The Digital Pound Lab is an experimental program using no real customers or money. The findings from this phase will inform the Bank and HM Treasury's assessment of the digital pound before their next steps later in 2026.