**Project Agora Enters Design Phase with 41 Financial Firms Onboard**

Project Agora, spearheaded by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and seven central banks, has moved into its design phase. Launched in April, the initiative aims to integrate tokenized commercial bank deposits with tokenized wholesale central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) on a unified platform.

Key Players:

- 41 private financial firms, including Visa, Mastercard, and SWIFT.

- Central banks from France, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.

Goals:

- Address inefficiencies in international payments.

- Focus on customer verification and Anti-Money Laundering.

Timeline:

- Expected to run until the end of 2025, with a final report to be released.