The project is a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Korea, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

In its press release, BIS said the project, which has now reached proof of concept stage, "aligns with the G20 priority actions for enhancing cross-border payments, as it has the potential to reduce costs and increase transaction speed, while preserving regulatory compliance."

Project Mandala developed a "compliance-by-design decentralised system" that could help "streamline cross-border payments by embedding regulatory compliance within a network of financial institutions and central banks. This decentralised architecture integrates three core components: a peer-to-peer messaging system, a rules engine and a proof engine."

Project Rialto is a collaboration of the BIS Innovation Hub Eurosystem and Singapore Centres in partnership with several central banks. It explores a new automatic FX settlement layer solution using wCBDC as a safe settlement asset that could be deployed for interlinked instant payment systems or digital asset systems.

Key themes are: risk management of financial market infrastructures; enhancement of cross-border payments; and digital innovation in payments, clearing and settlement.

It compares regulatory frameworks issued by 11 authorities in seven jurisdictions to identify emerging trends and commonalities in their respective frameworks.

Bank of France (representing the Eurosystem), Bank of Japan, Bank of Korea, Bank of Mexico, Swiss National Bank, Bank of England and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York will seek to work in partnership with a large group of private financial firms convened by the Institute of International Finance (IIF). 

Project Agorá builds on the unified ledger concept proposed by the BIS and will investigate how tokenised commercial bank deposits can be "seamlessly integrated with tokenised wholesale central bank money in a public-private programmable core financial platform."

According to BIS, this could "enhance the functioning of the monetary system and provide new solutions using smart contracts and programmability, while maintaining its two-tier structure." 

The BIS will issue a call for expressions of interest to private financial institutions to join Project Agorá. 

In his speech 'The future of money: a possible role for central bank digital currencies and their implications', he spoke about the "vital role" CBDCs could play in the "ever-evolving financial landscape". 

He discussed the benefits digital payments can offer to society; the role of CBDCs in supporting policy objectives; the work of central banks in the Caribbean and across the Americas; and related policy initiatives that could hold lessons for CBDCs. 

It also published a podcast based on the paper.