The Bank of England, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Bank of Thailand successfully demonstrated synchronized cross-border FX settlement across traditional and blockchain systems in 2026 through Project Meridian FX APAC. This marks the first time these central banks jointly validated a payment-versus-payment settlement process bridging legacy real-time gross settlement (RTGS) infrastructure with distributed ledger technology (DLT) in a single workflow.
The test addressed long-standing challenges in cross-border payments, where currency transfers typically move through separate national systems with different operating hours and rules. The project explored whether a shared synchronization layer could coordinate settlements without requiring central banks to abandon their existing infrastructure.
The core of the test was a payment-versus-payment mechanism, ensuring that currency transfers occur only if both legs of the transaction are completed. The central banks confirmed that synchronization between conventional and blockchain-based systems is technically feasible, though no specific launch or pilot expansion was announced.
The Bank of England framed the result as evidence that central banks can coordinate settlement across heterogeneous systems without mandating a single shared ledger. However, the demonstration did not include detailed technical reports or performance metrics, leaving key questions about transaction counts, settlement latency, and failure rates unanswered.
The announcement did not name the specific blockchain network, stablecoin, or tokenized deposit system used in the test. The central banks described the blockchain leg in general terms, leaving the technology stack open to interpretation. The absence of these details means the demonstration established the coordination concept but did not provide specific performance benchmarks.