Project Agora by Bank for International Settlements: status and timeline

Project Agora

Show that tokenized central bank reserves settle cross-border payments atomically across currencies and jurisdictions, reducing risk and clearing time.

PilotStage 3 of 5

Real-value tests completed July 2026 with 28 institutions across 6 currencies; 80-second settlement time.

Updated Jul 2026Checked 11 Oct0 updates this week

Milestones

Next · Additional central bank participants announced

Exploratory phase prototype2025Complete.
Move from prototype to real-value testing phase announcedMay 2026Complete.
Real-value testing completed with 28 institutionsJul 2026Complete.

Most important updates

Upcoming

2027Additional central bank participants announced (next)

Current obstacles

Central bank policy coordinationMust align on governance and privacy rules across jurisdictions with different regulations.
Interoperability with legacy systemsThe ledger must connect to each country's payment infrastructure without disrupting current operations.

Physics limits

Central bank independence concernsA shared ledger across multiple central banks creates dependencies: if it fails, every country's payment system is affected.
Monetary sovereignty concernsCentral banks resist sharing control with other jurisdictions, especially those with adversarial relationships.

How it works

3 parts

Tokenization

Central bank reserves become tokens

Central banks represent reserves on the ledger as digital tokens, each backed by actual reserves in accounts.

Private sector participation

Commercial banks transact with reserves

Banks transact through their central bank, moving tokens between accounts instantly.

Atomic finality

All-or-nothing settlement

Ledger either completes the full payment or rolls back, ensuring no settlement risk.

Spec sheet

Spec	Project Agora
Institutions in real-value testing	28 institutions (5 central banks, 23 financial institutions)^R (reported)
Settlement time	~80 seconds average for atomic cross-currency transactions^R (reported)
Currencies tested	6 currencies: CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, KRW, USD^R (reported)
Total value settled in testing	CHF 800,000 (~$1 million USD)^R (reported)

^R reported by the company

Update log

2 updates

Jul 2026

Major: Project Agora real-value testing settles $1 million across 6 currencies with 28 institutionsPressTest

Wed 27 May

Major: BIS announces 8 central banks and 40+ institutions will participate in Project Agora real-value testingPressPartnership

About Bank for International Settlements

The team behind Project Agora

Bank for International Settlements

Central bank cooperation, tokenized settlement

Central bank cooperative established 1930 in Basel. Owns and operates Project Agora, testing tokenized central bank reserves and commercial deposits for faster cross-border wholesale payments.

BIS is owned by 60 central banks and provides banking and financial services to them and international financial institutions.
Agora showed that tokenized payments can settle atomically across currencies and jurisdictions.
2026 real-value tests: 28 institutions (5 central banks and 23 financial institutions) settled $1 million in ~80 seconds.

bis.org (opens bis.org)Company profile →

Founded: 193096 yrs
Headquarters: Switzerland
Status: Government
Valuation: government
Works in: CryptoStablecoins & tokenization
Coverage: 1 program · 2 updateslatest 1 Jul 2026checked 11 Oct

Spec

Project Agora

Institutions in real-value testing

28 institutions (5 central banks, 23 financial institutions)^R (reported)

Settlement time

~80 seconds average for atomic cross-currency transactions^R (reported)

Currencies tested

6 currencies: CHF, EUR, GBP, JPY, KRW, USD^R (reported)

Total value settled in testing

CHF 800,000 (~$1 million USD)^R (reported)