Lloyds and CaixaBank complete live cross-border tokenised deposit payments in Project Agorá real-value tests
Lloyds and CaixaBank complete live cross-border tokenised deposit payments in Project Agorá real-value tests #
Lloyds Banking Group has announced the completion of three live tokenised deposit transactions through Project Agorá, the global public-private initiative co-convened by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and the Institute of International Finance to test how tokenisation could change wholesale cross-border payments.
The transactions, carried out as part of Project Agorá’s real-value testing phase, spanned sterling, euros and Swiss francs, and included a cross-currency scenario that linked foreign exchange conversion, payment and settlement into a single atomic transaction flow. Lloyds participated both as an originating bank in a sterling-denominated transaction and as a customer bank in separate Swiss franc and euro transactions using tokenised commercial bank deposits, according to the company’s press release.
Deutsche Bank separately confirmed that it served as intermediary agent in a euro-denominated payment made between Lloyds and Spain’s CaixaBank. The broader real-value phase involved 22 financial institutions alongside five central banks, which collectively completed 30 transactions totalling approximately CHF 800,000 (around $984,000) across six currencies, according to Ledger Insights. Tokens in each transaction were backed by actual central bank reserves and tokenised deposits, and average time from initiation to settlement ran to roughly 80 seconds, even though the platform was not connected to banks’ core systems or live central bank settlement infrastructure.
Peter Left, Head of Digital & Markets Innovation at Lloyds, said the testing had enabled the bank to bring together its payments, settlement and foreign exchange capabilities within a single cross-currency transaction, providing practical insight into how tokenisation could reduce friction and settlement risk in wholesale markets while remaining inside the regulated banking system.
The announcement follows several digital finance projects conducted by Lloyds over the past year. In mid-2025, the bank worked with Aberdeen Investments and Archax on what it described as a UK-first use of tokenised money market fund units and tokenised gilts as collateral for FX trades. Earlier this year, it completed what it called the UK’s first public blockchain transaction using tokenised deposits.
Project Agorá, which brings together eight central banks and more than 40 private-sector institutions, remains in an exploratory phase. The BIS has stated that successful real-value testing does not imply any commitment to move the platform into production, though the results are expected to inform future decisions on tokenised payment infrastructure.
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