Project Agorá by BIS Successfully Processes $1 Million Through Tokenized International Payment Testing

Project Agorá by BIS Successfully Processes $1 Million Through Tokenized International Payment Testing

According to the BIS, Project Agorá has successfully processed approximately $1 million worth of real-value international payment trials, involving 28 financial institutions that settled transactions spanning six different currencies with an average processing time of roughly 80 seconds.

According to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Project Agorá has successfully concluded real-value trials of tokenized wholesale international payments, involving 28 central banks and financial institutions that processed approximately 800,000 Swiss francs (equivalent to roughly $1 million) through 17 different transaction scenarios.

In an announcement made Thursday, the BIS revealed that the trials utilized tokenized commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves for settling payments denominated in Swiss francs, euros, pounds sterling, Japanese yen, South Korean won and US dollars, achieving an average transaction settlement time of approximately 80 seconds.

The participating institutions included the Bank of England, Bank of France, Bank of Japan, Bank of Korea and the Swiss National Bank, working in conjunction with major commercial banking institutions such as JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, UBS, Standard Chartered and MUFG.

As a BIS initiative that commenced in 2024, Project Agorá aims to investigate how tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits can enhance cross-border wholesale payment systems. The project released findings in May indicating that its prototype successfully demonstrated atomic settlement capabilities spanning multiple currencies and jurisdictions.

According to the BIS, the trials conducted in July represent a significant milestone in the project's development, with additional testing planned as Project Agorá continues to advance.