CaixaBank Completes Project Agorá Cross-Border Test Using Tokenised Deposits

Quick Summary

CaixaBank has successfully executed a tokenised deposits cross-border transaction as part of Project Agorá. The test involved a €10,000 transfer settled via tokenised central bank reserves, reducing settlement times to just 80 seconds while providing full end-to-end transparency for wholesale international payments.

How Does Project Agorá Improve Cross-Border Payments?

Tokenised deposits and reserves solve the fragmentation inherent in traditional correspondent banking by enabling atomic settlement on interoperable platforms. By integrating commercial and central bank money into a unified digital ledger, CaixaBank demonstrated that wholesale cross-border payments can move with significantly higher velocity and lower risk.

• Settlement Speed: Average transaction time reduced to 1 minute and 20 seconds.
• Transaction Volume: Part of a broader RVT programme involving 28 global financial institutions.
• Total Value: Approximately CHF 800,000 (€861,000) processed across 17 different scenarios.

What Results Has Tokenisation Delivered for CaixaBank?

The real value testing (RVT) phase proved that liquidity management becomes more efficient when using programmable money. CaixaBank, the sole Spanish participant, successfully received and returned €10,000 from a Lloyds Banking Group account at Deutsche Bank, validating the end-to-end capability of the infrastructure. This visibility into payment status and routing information eliminates the "black box" nature of current international transfers.

• 17 Scenarios: Tested across six different global currencies.
• Corporate Integration: Proven capability to support direct corporate payment processing.
• Resilience: Enhanced transparency and security through tokenised central bank money.

FF NEWS TAKE:

This successful test by CaixaBank and the Project Agorá cohort definitely moves the needle. While many blockchain projects remain in the "proof of concept" phase, executing real value testing with 28 major institutions proves that tokenised deposits are the most viable path forward for institutional finance. Achieving sub-two-minute settlement for cross-border wholesale transfers is a massive leap over the multi-day delays common in the current SWIFT-heavy ecosystem.