Central Banks Test Tokenized Cross-Border Payments Under Project Agorá

Eight central banks have joined forces to test tokenized cross-border payments under Project Agorá, led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Institute of International Finance (IIF).

The initiative aims to explore whether tokenization can improve wholesale cross-border payments. The participating central banks are the Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of Japan, Bank of Korea, Bank of Mexico, Banque de France for the Eurosystem, Swiss National Bank, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York through its New York Innovation Center.

The prototype combines tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits on a single programmable platform. This allows multi-currency transactions to settle atomically, meaning the payment and related transaction are completed at the same time. The platform could also support around-the-clock settlement if implemented.