PANews reported on May 28th, citing Bloomberg, that the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and its partners are about to launch a real-value transaction test for Project Agorá, a digital cross-border payments project. The project involves the BIS, seven central banks, and over 40 regulatory agencies, including the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, and firms such as JPMorgan Chase, UBS, and Deutsche Bank. The prototype uses a "unified ledger" concept, leveraging blockchain technology to complete transfers between banks in different countries within seconds, with transactions conducted in an "atomic" manner. The system retains existing sanctions enforcement and anti-money laundering screening mechanisms. The BIS stated that tokenization can securely and effectively address the inefficiencies in wholesale cross-border payments. The Bank of Canada has already joined the project, and more private institutions are expected to join as well.