The Bank for International Settlements, or BIS, has completed a real-value test under Project Agorá that demonstrated how tokenized bank money could support near-instant cross-border settlements while reducing the risk that one party completes a payment without receiving the corresponding funds.
The test involved 28 financial institutions and central banks, which moved a combined CHF 800,000, or approximately $993,000, across six currencies. Thirty transactions were completed with an average settlement time of about 80 seconds.
The experiment covered 17 transaction scenarios, including corporate and interbank payments, single-currency transfers, dual-currency transactions, payment-versus-payment exchanges and transfers within banking groups. Individual transaction values ranged from CHF 9,000 to CHF 125,000.
Project Agorá demonstrated that tokenized representations of real bank money could be exchanged across multiple currencies through atomic settlement, with both sides of a transaction completed simultaneously in an average of about 80 seconds.
Atomic settlement is designed to eliminate the settlement gap that exists in many conventional foreign exchange transactions. Under traditional cross-border payment processes, one institution may transfer one currency before receiving another currency in return. The delay can extend across time zones, business hours and multiple intermediary banks, exposing both parties to the possibility that a counterparty could fail before completing its obligation.
Under the Project Agorá model, both parts of a transaction are linked into a single process. Either the currencies are transferred simultaneously or the transaction does not proceed, removing the intermediate stage in which only one party has delivered payment.
Prototype Remains Separate From Live Banking Systems
The BIS said the test was conducted on a standalone tokenized platform that was not connected to participating institutions’ live real-time gross settlement, or RTGS, systems and core banking infrastructure.
Although the prototype achieved an average settlement time of 80 seconds, integrating live RTGS and core banking systems remains the central technical, legal and governance challenge before the platform could be deployed at institutional scale.
The test used tokenized representations backed by real money rather than unbacked demonstration tokens. Funds were linked to dedicated RTGS escrow arrangements outside the test environment, while settlement occurred on the shared ledger. Following completion, tokenized balances could be redeemed through the underlying banking infrastructure.
The BIS has not announced a production timetable. The next testing phase, scheduled through the fourth quarter of 2026, is expected to examine transaction capacity and system resilience during periods of higher activity. Technical specifications are targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
The Bank of England, the Bank of France on behalf of the Eurosystem, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea and the Swiss National Bank participated directly in the live testing. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Bank of Mexico were involved in the broader initiative but did not conduct transactions during this phase.
Private-sector participants included major international banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, UBS, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and Lloyds Banking Group. Approximately 250 public- and private-sector employees participated across operational, compliance, legal and risk-management functions.
Tokenized Bank Money Differs From Stablecoins
Project Agorá uses tokenized versions of central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits, both of which already operate within established banking and regulatory frameworks. The tokens represent existing forms of regulated money rather than creating a new financial instrument.
This structure differs from privately issued stablecoins, which are generally backed by reserve assets but are issued outside traditional bank deposit insurance and bank capital frameworks. The distinction is significant for institutional transactions that require central bank oversight, established compliance controls and legally recognized settlement finality.
The project also retained sanctions screening and anti-money-laundering procedures within existing banking systems. The design is intended to preserve regulatory safeguards while allowing tokenized infrastructure to support faster settlement.
By using established ISO 20022 financial messaging standards, Project Agorá could allow banks to connect tokenized payment systems without replacing their existing payment messaging infrastructure.
The test indicates that atomic settlement technology can function with real monetary value and multiple currencies. However, the transition from a controlled pilot to a production system will require extensive integration with live banking networks, regulatory coordination across jurisdictions, and governance agreements among central banks and financial institutions.
The results provide evidence that the settlement mechanism can operate effectively, while highlighting that large-scale deployment will depend on building the institutional infrastructure needed to connect tokenized systems with the global banking network.
