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Following the conclusion of “Project Agila,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has announced plans to launch a second proof of concept (POC) for its wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC).
This time, the focus is specific: using CBDC as a settlement instrument for tokenized government bonds.
Filling the Gap in Bond Settlement
According to BSP Deputy Governor Mamerto Tangonan, the new pilot aims to solve a logistical gap exposed during the Bureau of the Treasury’s (BTr) recent issuance of tokenized treasury bonds (TTBs).
While the BTr successfully raised ₱10 billion from the local bond market using blockchain technology, the settlement process for these bonds still relied on traditional methods. The BSP intends for its wholesale CBDC to fill this role, enabling purely digital, on-chain settlement.
“What we are thinking of doing next is to focus on wholesale CBDC settling government bonds, because the Bureau of the Treasury moved ahead with their pilot of the tokenized treasury bonds. It just lacked a settlement instrument, so we will be providing that with CBDC.”
Mamerto Tangonan, Deputy Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
A Wider Pilot for 2026
Tangonan emphasized that the central bank is currently establishing a strategic roadmap for this next phase. Unlike the first pilot, which involved a limited group, the second POC will likely include a broader range of financial institutions.
“We need to broaden that to more institutions so that all of us will learn from the next proof of concept, especially when we need to test the settlement of government bonds.”
Mamerto Tangonan, Deputy Governor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
BSP’s CBDC Initiatives
The central bank first hinted at having its own CBDC in 2020. In April 2022, the country first revealed its pilot project for a wholesale CBDC, then known as “Project CBDCPh.”
CBDCs are digital money denominated in the national unit of account and are direct liabilities of the central bank, in this case, the Philippine peso and the BSP.
The pilot test was later coined as “Project Agila,” which focused on wholesale transactions between financial institutions, businesses, and governments. In September 2023, the central bank selected Hyperledger Fabric as the distributed ledger technology for the first proof of concept.
The BSP explained that its selection of Hyperledger Fabric was the result of a comprehensive evaluation process that considered factors such as access, security, availability, interoperability, and programmability. Project Agila was concluded in April 2024.
However, the BSP hinted in the same year that its next proof of concept for CBDC will not use blockchain or distributed ledger technology. BSP Governor Eli Remolona Jr. explained that this is to rival unregulated cryptocurrencies.
Worth Reading: PH Eyes 2026 Launch of Non-Blockchain CBDC To Rival Crypto – BSP
This article is published on BitPinas: BSP Eyes Second CBDC Pilot to Settle Tokenized Government Bonds
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