BIS Completes $1 Million Tokenized Cross-Border Payment Trial Under Project Agorá

Highlights:

• BIS completed the Project Agorá trial using real money instead of simulations.
• Banks completed real payment tests across six currencies instead of using simulations.
• The live testing gave major banks practical experience with tokenized wholesale payments.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) completed a real-value trial under Project Agorá that settled about 800,000 Swiss francs, or nearly $1 million, across 17 cross-border payment scenarios. The BIS brought together 28 financial institutions and central banks to test tokenized wholesale payments through the latest real-value trial. The participants tested corporate payments, interbank settlements, and foreign exchange transactions using tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits.

🔥 JUST IN: BIS-backed Project Agorá has successfully tested cross-border payments using tokenized money, settling $1M across six currencies in just 80 seconds on average.

Major institutions including JPMorgan, Citi and others took part.

Tokenized money is moving closer to… pic.twitter.com/CZ8qklsi85

— FutureVerse (@AlphaVerse) July 31, 2026

The pilot settled payments in Swiss francs, euros, pounds sterling, Japanese yen, South Korean won, and U.S. dollars. The BIS said the prototype completed the transactions in about 80 seconds without direct integration into existing banking payment infrastructure.

The Bank of England, Bank of France, Bank of Japan, Bank of Korea, and Swiss National Bank joined the testing. Commercial banks also participated in the initiative. They included JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, UBS, Standard Chartered, and MUFG. The trial evaluated how tokenized central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits could improve wholesale cross-border payments within regulated banking systems.

Project Agorá Explores a Shared Ledger for Global Banking

The BIS and the Institute of International Finance launched Project Agorá in 2024, in collaboration with central banks and commercial financial institutions, to improve wholesale cross-border payments. Project Agorá studies how tokenized commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves can speed up wholesale cross-border payments while reducing settlement friction.

Project Agorá tokenizes central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits instead of relying on privately issued stablecoins. Commercial bank deposits represent customer funds that banks use during payment and settlement activities within the regulated financial system.

The pilot placed tokenized money on a shared ledger instead of relying on several correspondent banks. The shared ledger gave every participating institution access to the same payment record throughout each transaction. The platform also linked foreign exchange conversion, payment, and settlement into one coordinated process. Therefore, both parties exchanged currencies at the same time instead of waiting for separate settlement stages. The simultaneous process reduced settlement risk because both parties exchanged funds at the same time while sharing one transaction record.

The platform works alongside existing banking infrastructure, allowing banks to adopt tokenized settlements without replacing current payment systems. Earlier this year, the project demonstrated atomic settlement across several currencies and jurisdictions.

The BIS confirmed that its Project Agorá prototype enables instant,

Atomic settlement for wholesale cross-border payments. Next stop: real-value testing, with the Bank of Canada and private sector partners joining the push to revolutionize international finance.#Tokenization pic.twitter.com/5qwpK4Do6e

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Participating Banks Demonstrate Live Payment Scenarios

Lloyds Banking Group completed three live tokenized deposit transactions during the real-value testing. The bank converted Swiss francs into pounds sterling through its Corporate Markets business. It linked foreign exchange conversion, payment, and settlement into one simultaneous transaction instead of separate stages.

Lloyds also joined separate Swiss franc and euro payment scenarios. One transaction transferred €10,000 from a Lloyds account at Deutsche Bank to CaixaBank. Banque de France completed the settlement through tokenized reserves before the payment returned through the same infrastructure.

Peter Left, Head of Digital and Markets Innovation at Lloyds Banking Group, said:

“This testing has allowed us to bring together our payments, settlement and foreign exchange capabilities in a cross-currency transaction. It gives us valuable practical insight into how tokenisation could help reduce friction and settlement risk in wholesale payments, while operating within the regulated banking system.”

The BIS said the July real-value trial marked another milestone in Project Agorá’s development after successfully processing live tokenized wholesale payments. The BIS confirmed that Project Agorá will continue real-value testing as participating institutions expand the project’s development.