Bank of Canada joins BIS Project Agorá to test improvements in wholesale cross-border payments

The Bank of Canada announced today it is joining the Bank for International Settlements’ Project Agorá, an initiative exploring how tokenization could improve wholesale cross-border payments.

The project has successfully tested the feasibility of a multi-currency unified ledger that enables atomic settlement of cross-border wholesale transactions. The Agorá prototype combines tokenized commercial bank deposits and wholesale central bank money on a programmable platform with the aim of improving the speed, efficiency, transparency and accessibility of international payments.

The project will continue to test the prototype and examine how an Agorá-type platform could operate within existing legal and regulatory frameworks, including rules on settlement finality as well as laws designed to counter money-laundering and terrorism financing.

Project Agorá brings together central banks and private sector financial institutions to experiment with next-generation payments infrastructure. It aligns with the Bank of Canada’s research focus on the evolution of payments and how emerging technologies can support a more efficient financial system.

“We know that the Canadian economy could benefit from innovation in cross-border payments,” said Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers. “Tokenization has the potential to make these payments faster, cheaper and more efficient and secure. Project Agorá is a unique opportunity to test the technology across several jurisdictions and currencies, with the participation of private sector financial institutions.”