Project Agorá project
Overview
Project Agorá is a public-private initiative of the BIS Innovation Hub testing whether tokenisation can fix the structural inefficiencies of wholesale cross-border payments, which today are slow, costly and opaque because of long sequential correspondent chains and fragmented liquidity. It brings together eight central banks — including those issuing five major reserve currencies — and more than 40 private financial institutions, with the Institute of International Finance convening the private-sector side. The prototype combines tokenised central bank reserves with tokenised commercial bank deposits on a single programmable platform, enabling atomic multi-currency settlement of wholesale cross-border payments that could in principle run continuously. Because the platform is programmable, institutions can embed compliance rules and conditional payment triggers directly into transactions using smart contracts, opening up conditional payments that are impractical in today's messaging-based rails. As of May 2026 Project Agorá had delivered a prototype and was advancing toward testing with real-value transactions, while remaining explicitly exploratory rather than a production system, with continued central bank support anticipated. Project Agorá was convened by the BIS Innovation Hub with eight central banks and over 40 financial institutions, with the Institute of International Finance organising private-sector participation. It moved from design to a delivered prototype, and as of May 2026 was advancing toward real-value transaction testing.
Within the DeFi Intel graph, Project Agorá connects to 24 tracked entities, most strongly to HSBC, Bank for International Settlements, Standard Chartered.
Relations
Top connections in the DeFi Intel knowledge graph (confidence-weighted, 10 of 24 total).
| Relation | Connected entity | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
participates_in | HSBC | 95% |
leads | Bank for International Settlements | 95% |
participates_in | Standard Chartered | 95% |
participates_in | Federal Reserve | 95% |
participates_in | ECB | 95% |
launched | Bank for International Settlements | 95% |
integrates | BBVA | 95% |
participates_in | Bank of England | 95% |
participates_in | Swiss National Bank | 95% |
participates_in | Bank of Japan | 95% |
Frequently asked questions
What is Project Agorá?
Project Agorá is an other tracked in the DeFi Intel knowledge graph. It is connected to 24 other tracked entities, most strongly to HSBC, Bank for International Settlements, Standard Chartered.
What type of entity is Project Agorá?
Project Agorá is classified as an other (project) in the DeFi Intel knowledge graph.
What is Project Agorá connected to?
In the DeFi Intel knowledge graph, Project Agorá is linked to 24 other tracked entities, most strongly to HSBC, Bank for International Settlements, Standard Chartered.
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