The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub has published the Project Agorá report, setting out a prototype shared platform for wholesale cross-border payments developed with the Institute of International Finance, seven central banks and more than 40 regulated financial institutions. The prototype shows that tokenised commercial bank deposits can be combined with tokenised central bank reserves on a shared distributed ledger platform to support atomic multi-currency settlement, with payments potentially running around the clock if implemented. It is designed to preserve correspondent banking while reducing delays, failed payments and reconciliation burdens by aligning payment information, compliance checks and liquidity commitments before settlement. The prototype uses a two-layer architecture, with a common ledger for tokenised commercial bank deposits and separate jurisdictional ledgers for tokenised central bank reserves. It supports smart contract-based workflow logic, conditional payment triggers, privacy controls and institution-led AML, counter-terrorist financing, anti-fraud and sanctions checks, while incorporating standards such as ISO 20022 CBPR+ and legal entity identifiers. The report says testing showed atomic settlement is achievable across all seven participating jurisdictions and that legal analysis found no direct conflicts with existing legal and regulatory frameworks, although further work is needed on areas such as settlement finality implementation, governance, operational resilience, cybersecurity, liquidity-saving mechanisms and interoperability with other infrastructures. Project participants, including central banks, expressed continued interest in exploring the prototype further. Future work is expected to give the private sector a larger role, alongside continued engagement from participating central banks.
Bank for International Settlements - Innovation Hub2026-05-27
Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub delivers Project Agorá prototype for atomic multi currency wholesale cross border settlement
The Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub published the Project Agorá report on a prototype shared distributed ledger platform combining tokenised commercial bank deposits and central bank reserves for atomic multi-currency wholesale cross-border settlement. Its two-layer architecture preserves correspondent banking while aiming to cut delays, failed payments and reconciliation burdens. Testing showed atomic settlement is achievable across all seven participating jurisdictions without direct legal or regulatory conflicts, though further work is needed on settlement finality, governance and interoperability. Participating central banks and private institutions plan to explore the prototype further and expand the private sector role.