BIS Project Agorá Enters Testing Phase: Key Step Towards Truly Functional Cross-Border Payments

Project Agorá, one of the most ambitious Bank for International Settlements (BIS) initiatives in cross-border payments, has entered its testing phase. According to information cited by Reuters, the project has moved from design and prototype phase to practical testing.

What is Project Agorá?

Agorá is a joint project of the BIS Innovation Hub and seven central banks:

• Bank of France
• Bank of Japan
• Bank of Korea
• Bank of Mexico
• Swiss National Bank
• Bank of England
• Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Project Goals

The project aims to solve chronic cross-border payment problems:

• Slowness (days instead of seconds)
• High costs
• Lack of transparency
• Limited availability

Technical Solution

Agorá uses a combination of:

• Tokenized commercial bank deposits
• Wholesale CBDC
• Unified DLT platform

Market Significance

Successful testing could lay the foundation for a new generation of cross-border payment infrastructure that could dramatically reduce costs and time required for international transactions.