Odaily Planet Daily reports that the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has completed a real-value test of tokenized wholesale cross-border payments under Project Agorá, with 28 financial institutions and central banks settling approximately 800,000 Swiss francs, equivalent to about $1 million, across 17 transaction scenarios. The test utilized tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits, with settlement currencies including the Swiss franc, euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Korean won, and U.S. dollar, achieving an average settlement time of approximately 80 seconds.
Participants include the Bank of England, the Banque de France, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, and the Swiss National Bank, along with commercial banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, UBS, Standard Chartered, and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group. Project Agorá, launched by the BIS in 2024, aims to explore how tokenized commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves can improve wholesale cross-border payments. The BIS stated that the July tests represent a significant milestone, and testing will continue as Project Agorá progresses.