BIS To Proceed With Work On CBDC And Tokenization Projects

The Innovation Center of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced its work program for the year. It features six new projects exploring issues of cybersecurity, financial crime, CBDC and green finance.

The bank will begin the second phase of testing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2024, Project Aurum, which is jointly led by BIS and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA). The new stage involves research into the privacy of retail payments with CBDC. Previously, the HKMA implemented a wholesale interbank system, an e-wallet and a retail CBDC prototype for the Aurum project.

Also among the projects is Promissa, a collaboration between BIS, the Swiss National Bank and the World Bank. It aims to create a proof of concept (PoC) platform for digital tokenized notes. Most promissory notes are still issued in paper form, and the bank aims to complete the PoC by early 2025, according to the BIS.

The bank will also continue to work on the Mandala project, which aims to automate compliance procedures for cross-border payments. Other projects in the works include Pyxtrail, which tracks asset-backed stablecoin balances, and Project Cambridge, which is experimenting with a multi-CBDC platform for cross-border payments.

Earlier in November 2023, BIS General Manager Agustin Carstens called on central banks around the world to work on digital innovations and called the CBDC the “central element” of this process.