The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub has published the final results of Project Promissa, a joint experiment with the Swiss National Bank and the World Bank, indicating that multilateral development banks could manage member-country promissory notes using distributed ledger technology instead of paper-based processes. The proof-of-concept platform for tokenised promissory notes was found technically feasible and could reduce time and costs for MDBs, central banks and Ministries of Finance. Promissory notes are written commitments used by MDBs to track and encash multi-year contributions from member countries, with current workflows described as time-consuming and requiring constant reconciliation. The DLT design aims to create a single source of truth, enable multiparty signatures and maintain confidentiality while preserving each party’s ownership, control and decision-making power over its promissory notes, covering issuance through payment and archiving. Participants from seven countries contributed to testing and feedback, and the International Monetary Fund participated as an observer. The final report also concludes that the approach can be tailored to different requirements, but further work would be needed to make the platform operational.
Bank for International Settlements - Innovation Hub 2025-04-23
Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub demonstrates tokenised promissory note platform for multilateral development bank commitments under Project Promissa
The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub, with the Swiss National Bank and the World Bank, concluded Project Promissa, showing that distributed ledger technology (DLT) can manage multilateral development banks' promissory notes, potentially reducing time and costs. The proof-of-concept platform supports tokenised promissory notes, offering a single source of truth and multiparty signatures, though further development is needed for operational deployment.