Tokenization Move from 28 Giant Banks Including JPMorgan and Citi: Transactions Drop to 80 Seconds

Project Agorá, led by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), has taken a revolutionary step in the traditional banking system by reducing cross-border payments to just 80 seconds using tokenized assets.

The core operation of global finance is on the brink of a major transformation with the integration of tokenization technology into the system. Under Project Agorá, 28 commercial banks—including giants such as JPMorgan, Citi, UBS, and Deutsche Bank—and 5 central banks successfully completed real transactions worth approximately $1 million. This pilot study has become one of the most concrete examples of institutional adaptation, leaving behind the clunky structure of traditional systems and demonstrating the power of tokenized deposits and central bank reserves.

During the tests, a total of 6 different currencies were used, including the US dollar, euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Swiss franc, and South Korean won. Although not yet directly integrated into current banking infrastructure, the fact that transactions were completed in an average of 80 seconds proved the potential of RWA (real-world assets) use in terms of speed. During this process, both central bank reserves and commercial bank deposits were tokenized to facilitate interbank payments and foreign exchange swaps.

Shared Ledger Era in Cross-Border Payments

The most striking aspect of the project was its elimination of the complex correspondent banking chain through shared ledger technology. While a payment in the traditional method passes through many different institutions updating their own records, in this system, all parties can transact over a single common record. This situation not only increases speed but also completely eliminates the risk of one party sending money and not receiving the counterpart by offering simultaneous settlement in currency transactions.

Participating banks reported that this new platform could work compatibly with existing payment systems and made end-to-end tracking of transactions extremely easy. This project, which shows that tokenized assets are beginning to settle into the “plumbing” of global finance, opens the doors to a much more transparent and efficient financial structure in the future.