The BIS Agorá project has just reached a decisive milestone. After months of simulations, its members are moving to real-value transactions to test the tokenization of central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits. Seven central banks and more than 40 private financial institutions are participating in the initiative.
In brief
- The BIS concludes that tokenization enables atomic settlement between currencies and jurisdictions.
- Participants in the Agorá project leave simulations for transactions involving real money.
- The Bank of Canada joins the initiative this week, further expanding its scope.
Tokenization could solve a major problem for banks according to the BIS
Led jointly by the BIS, seven central banks and more than 40 private financial institutions, the Agorá project has put its finger on a problem as old as the global banking system: cross-border payments that fail halfway.
The central concept is atomic settlement. A transaction is carried out in “all or nothing” mode: there is no longer any question of one leg of the payment being successful while the other remains blocked.
This type of incident, commonplace in the current SWIFT architecture, results in delays of several days and significant reconciliation costs for the banks involved.
Prominent players are also participating in the experiment: the Federal Reserve of New York, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank. This week, the Bank of Canada joined them.
From simulation to real tests, while Wall Street accelerates
The schedule is accelerating. Members of the Agorá Project now plan transactions involving real currencies and institutions, rather than controlled environments. A notable milestone for an initiative which until now remained on paper.
This shift occurs in a context of the race for tokenization. DTCC, Wall Street's clearing house, is preparing a tokenized infrastructure for stocks, ETFs and US Treasuries. Nasdaq and ICE, which owns the NYSE, are each developing their own blockchain systems.
On the regulatory side, caution remains in order. At the end of May, the SEC postponed its proposed exemption on tokenized shares, in particular to prevent platforms from issuing digital versions of shares without the agreement of the companies concerned. A signal that infrastructure is moving faster than the law.
The BIS also maintains an explicit reservation on private stablecoins. The agency judges that they carry systemic risks and calls for accelerated regulation of the sector.
In short, the Agorá project marks a concrete turning point in global financial plumbing. Atomic settlement, reduction of intermediaries, Bank of Canada in the loop: the conditions for an overhaul of the cross-border payments system are being put in place. Institutional tokenization is no longer a pilot project. It is entering the phase of real transactions, with real currencies and real responsibilities.
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