According to Bloomberg, the BIS is exploring the creation of an international platform for trading tokenized assets using digital currencies backed by participating central banks. Investors can use nearly risk-free central bank currencies for cross-border transactions on this unified ledger. Currently, the only comparable safe currency is cash, but it does not have a digital form.
Project leader Morten Bech said that due to the high interest and large scale of Project Agora, BIS chose to work with the Institute of International Finance to complete the selection and onboarding process of private sector participants in a timely manner.
The BIS, based in Basel, Switzerland, is known as the central bank's bank, responsible for transferring money between monetary institutions and serving as a research center. Its in-house innovation center is studying different options for improving the global financial system.
BIS said Agora is one of the largest and most complex projects in terms of geographic scope and number of participants, and could form the basis for a new regulated financial market infrastructure to facilitate cross-border payments.