Bank of England tests stablecoin and digital ledger interoperability in cross-border trade

The Bank of England is already preparing the cohabitation between stablecoins and digital books. Its Digital Pound Lab is testing a cross-border payment in which an exporter receives an advance in stablecoin before a UK importer settles the transaction with simulated digital pounds. However, London has still not decided to launch its CBDC.

Stablecoins enter the Digital Pound Lab

The test is being conducted with NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs. It comes as the Bank of England is already working on a new framework for sterling stablecoins.

The scenario chosen concerns a company that sells goods abroad. The exporter first receives an advance through a system using a stablecoin. The UK buyer then pays using a simulated digital pound.

No real customers or real digital books yet though. The Digital Pound Lab functions as a testing environment. The Bank of England also specifies that the experiments carried out there do not predict its future decisions.

The British digital pound therefore remains hypothetical.

This does not prevent the BoE from testing its uses. And above all its connections with other means of payment. A possible British CBDC will indeed have to be able to circulate with bank deposits, existing payment systems and probably stablecoins. The current experience gives a first idea of ​​this mixture.

Cross-border trade is of particular interest to London

The choice of international trade is not by chance. SMEs that export can wait several days to receive their money after the goods have been shipped. This delay ties up their cash flow and sometimes complicates access to financing.

NOBO Finance wants to reduce this gap thanks to stablecoins. Dun & Bradstreet provides business data and business risk. Polygon, for its part, provides the smart contract infrastructure.

A second project is also planned. It involves creating reusable credit profiles for small businesses by combining transaction data, open finance insights and commercial data from Dun & Bradstreet.

Payment and credit are thus found in the same project.

Stablecoins have already started to gain traction in international transfers. MoneyGram, for example, has just extended its infrastructure to Solana for converting cash and stablecoins. Its service covers withdrawals in more than 170 countries.

The Bank of England is therefore entering an area where the private sector is already making progress. For her, the question is less whether several digital currencies will coexist than determining how they will be able to communicate with each other.

Cross-border trading is a good place to try.

London is also preparing its rules on stablecoins

The Bank of England does not only work on digital books. In June, it published new proposals for systemic sterling-denominated stablecoins. Issuers could place up to 70% of their reserves in interest-bearing UK government debt.

A temporary cap of 40 billion pounds per systemic stablecoin is also being considered. The old limits for individual and business assets have been abandoned. The final regulations must be finalized before the end of 2026 with implementation planned for 2027.

Modernization also affects traditional banking infrastructures. The BoE wants to bring its RTGS and CHAPS system closer to almost permanent operation, including on weekends. International payments and tokenization are among the reasons given.

Stablecoins are therefore no longer treated as a crypto curiosity in London. They are gradually entering into discussions on the very architecture of British payments.

The movement also extends beyond the United Kingdom. The use of these assets is increasing in transfers, crypto cards and everyday payments. Stablecoins recently accounted for 84% of spending seen on some crypto cards. There remains the digital book. The Bank of England continues its trials without promising that it will ever see the light of day. Stablecoins no longer need to wait for this decision.