Bank of England tests stablecoin, digital pound interoperability in cross-border payments

Digital Pound Lab pilot

The Digital Pound Lab is testing a cross-border trade finance flow combining stablecoin payments with simulated digital pound settlement.

Systemic stablecoins entail payments and retail-focused tokens. Source: Bank of England

Modernizing payment infrastructure

The regulatory work is unfolding alongside efforts to modernize traditional payment infrastructure. In May, the BoE proposed moving its Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Clearing House Automated Payments System (CHAPS) toward near-24/7 operation, including weekend and extended daily hours, in part to support cross-border payments and new settlement models as tokenization develops.

In July, the central bank also approved HSBC’s Orion platform to operate in the UK’s Digital Securities Sandbox, where it is expected to support digital bond issuance, including the country’s planned Digital Gilt Instrument.

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