The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) partners with central banks from France, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Switserland, the UK, and the US Federal Reserve to explore asset tokenisation through Project Agora.
This initiative aims to create a centralised platform facilitating cross-border CBDC payments and tokenised money transfers, bridging commercial bank deposits and wholesale central bank money.
Project Agora seeks to address structural inefficiencies in the current payment systems, especially across borders, by leveraging smart contracts and programmability while maintaining a two-tier structure.
Hyun Song Shin, BIS' economic adviser, highlights how tokenisation combines traditional database record-keeping with transfer rules within a central bank framework.
Cecilia Skingsley, head of BIS Innovation Hub, emphasises the goal of establishing a common payment infrastructure for interoperability across digital currencies, reflecting BIS's interest in recent crypto innovations tied to financial centralisation.