Project Agorá, a BIS-led initiative with 40+ central banks, demonstrates that tokenised reserves and deposits enable secure cross-border settlement; Bank of Canada joins the program.
Macro & Markets ·
A tokenization initiative led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has demonstrated that digitized central bank reserves and bank deposits can enable rapid, secure cross-border settlement, with over 40 banks participating in the Project Agorá prototype. The Bank of Canada has now joined the program, expanding participation among central bank authorities testing the technical feasibility of tokenized money for international transfers.
Project Agorá operates by converting traditional reserves and deposits into digital tokens on a shared settlement network, enabling all-or-nothing transactions between participating institutions across borders. The prototype's findings suggest that tokenization can accelerate settlement speed while maintaining the security guarantees central banks require, addressing longstanding friction in international payment flows.
Questions remain about the timeline for broader adoption, the technical standards that will govern interoperability across different central bank systems, and how tokenized settlement will integrate with existing payment infrastructures operated by institutions like SWIFT.