Central Banks Test Tokenised Cross-Border Payments with Project Agorá

Central banks are testing tokenised cross-border payments through Project Agorá, a prototype developed by the Bank for International Settlements and the Institute of International Finance. The July trial involved 28 public and private sector institutions and covered 17 transaction scenarios across selected currencies.

The transactions ranged from CHF 9,000 to CHF 125,000 or their equivalents in other currencies, with an average time between initiating and settling a payment of approximately 80 seconds. Project Agorá combines tokenised central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits on a shared programmable platform, allowing for atomic multi-currency settlement.

The prototype can also use smart contracts to incorporate payment conditions, workflow logic, and compliance requirements directly into transactions. The project remains experimental, with further testing planned to assess its technical, operational, legal, and regulatory implications.