The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is collaborating with some of the world's largest banks and credit card companies on a blockchain-based project aimed at revolutionizing global cross-border payments. JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, UBS Group, Visa Inc., and Mastercard are among the companies that have joined the Agora project, which launched in May. The full list of private sector participants includes 41 companies, who will work alongside seven central banks from regions including the US, Eurozone, Japan, and the UK.

BIS is exploring the creation of an international platform through Agora (meaning "marketplace" in Greek), where tokenized assets can be bought and sold using digital currencies backed by participating central banks. These central banks issue the world's most important reserve currencies. On this unified ledger, investors can conduct cross-border transactions using nearly risk-free central bank money. Currently, the only relatively secure currency is cash, which doesn't exist in a digital form.