According to PANews, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has partnered with some of the world's largest banks and credit card companies to launch a blockchain-based project aimed at revolutionizing global cross-border payments. The Agora project, initiated in May, includes participants such as JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, UBS Group, Visa Inc., and Mastercard. A total of 41 private sector companies are involved, working alongside central banks from regions including the United States, the Eurozone, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
The BIS is exploring the creation of an international platform through Agora, which means 'market' in Greek, where tokenized assets can be bought and sold using digital currencies backed by participating central banks. These central banks issue some of the world's most significant reserve currencies. On this unified ledger, investors can conduct cross-border transactions using nearly risk-free central bank money. Currently, the only relatively safe currency is cash, which does not exist in digital form.