BIS Tokenization Pilot Advances 24/7 Cross-Border Settlement

TLDR

• BIS Project Agorá tests tokenized payments for 24/7 cross-border settlement.
• BIS advances atomic settlement model for wholesale global payment systems.
• Project Agorá links tokenized deposits with central bank reserves in pilot.
• BIS pilot shows tokenization can reduce cross-border payment delays.
• Project Agorá moves toward real-value testing after prototype success.

BIS has moved its tokenization work into a more practical phase after Project Agorá completed a working prototype. The pilot showed that wholesale cross-border payments can settle across currencies through atomic execution. It also added fresh context to the push for faster, programmable, and always-on settlement systems.

Project Agorá Tests Atomic Settlement

BIS and the Institute of International Finance launched Project Agorá to address long-running payment frictions. The project focused on wholesale cross-border transactions, where delays and counterparty risks remain common. It brought together central banks and private financial firms under one shared test framework.

The prototype used tokenized commercial bank deposits and tokenized central bank reserves on a shared platform. BIS said the model supported atomic settlement across several currencies and legal systems. That structure means linked payment steps can complete together or fail together.

The project included seven central banks and more than 40 regulated financial institutions. Participants included central banks from the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Switzerland. The Bank of Canada will also join the next phase as the eighth central bank participant.

BIS Prototype Supports 24/7 Payment Design

BIS said the prototype used a layered design that keeps central banks operationally independent. It also allowed them to connect through a common and interoperable platform. This model aimed to reduce fragmentation without removing national control over settlement operations.

The report also covered legal and privacy findings across the participating jurisdictions. BIS said legal analysis supported settlement finality across all seven jurisdictions in the test. Still, future work must align technical, contractual, and operational rules with local legal systems.

Privacy remained a central part of the test architecture. The platform used methods that protect sensitive balance and transaction data. At the same time, the structure kept space for regulatory checks and compliance oversight.

Tokenized Payments Move Toward Real-Value Testing

Project Agorá also tested how smart contracts can support workflow logic inside wholesale payments. These tools can embed compliance checks, payment conditions, and transaction triggers directly into payment flows. They can reduce manual checks, failed payments, and reconciliation delays.

BIS said the modular design can support conditional payments and always-on transaction processing. It may also support future upgrades in sanctions checks, fraud controls, and financial crime monitoring. Those features depend on stronger rules for data sharing and compliance design.

The next phase will move Project Agorá toward real-value testing with selected currencies. BIS expects the private sector to take a stronger role during that stage. Central banks will also remain involved as the project moves closer to live wholesale settlement use.

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