Bank of England Tests Digital Pound Trade Finance with Polygon Consortium

The Bank of England has tapped a consortium led by NOBO Finance to test digital pound trade finance flows in Phase 2 of its Digital Pound Lab. The consortium includes Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs, which will provide stablecoin settlement, wallet, and smart contract infrastructure through its Open Money Stack.

The experiment aims to develop a reusable SME credit profile that combines transaction data, business intelligence, and Polygon-based smart contract infrastructure. This profile is designed to remain under the small business's control and travel with it when seeking financing from different providers.

A second workstream will test invoice factoring backed by an electronic bill of lading using separate digital-money rails within the same transaction. An exporter would receive a stablecoin advance while a UK importer completes final settlement in digital pounds.