The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and seven central banks are working on Project Agorá, a name inspired by the busy markets of ancient Greece that represents ambitions to become a new center for financial exchange. Agorá is a project that explores tokenization based on blockchain.
(Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission Chairman Huang Tianmu Songkou: We are exploring the tokenization of financial assets, which is essentially different from the currency circle)
Central banks join forces with private sector to make cross-border payments
Imagine being able to move your money seamlessly between continents without getting caught in the web of current banking complexities.
The Agorá team includes the Bank of France (the leader of the European system), the Bank of Japan, the Bank of Korea, the Bank of Mexico, the Swiss National Bank, the Bank of England, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Plus the Institute of International Finance (IIF) is calling for a powerful coalition from the private sector, pledging to work together to set new standards for global financial operations.
Unifying the global banking ledger
At the heart of Agorá’s plan is a vision that could change the nature of currency trading.
The plan aims to merge tokenized commercial bank deposits with wholesale central bank currency to create an innovative and inclusive digital architecture. This "public-private programmable core financial platform" may not only change the rules of the game, but also simplify operations and introduce smart contracts into the mainstream, making financial transactions smarter, faster and more efficient.
(BlackRock BUIDL has entered the market to support, and more than $1.1 billion in U.S. government bonds have been tokenized)
Smart contracts dominate the future of financial transactions
The Agorá project hopes to use smart contracts to implement settlement methods and transaction types that have been too complex or simply unfeasible so far. This has profound implications for businesses and individuals.
Archaic restrictions on cross-border payments
The current cross-border payment system has been criticized due to regulatory, technical and operational obstacles. The Agorá plan also includes improving the legal framework and maintaining the integrity of financial controls to create a smoother financial ecosystem.
(BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is optimistic about Ethereum ETF: Towards a tokenized future)
This article Bank for International Settlements Blockchain Project Agorá: Seven central banks explore the combination of tokenized finance and CBDC first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.
