Thailand, UK and Singapore central banks test linking traditional and tokenized FX settlement

Central banks from the UK, Singapore and Thailand have finished a set of trials connecting traditional foreign-exchange settlement with tokenized systems. The results were announced on November 13, 2026, and the central banks say the tests worked.

The effort is called Project Meridian FX APAC. It tackled an unglamorous corner of finance with very large stakes: making sure both halves of a currency trade settle together, even when each half runs on a different technology.

What the trials actually tested

The core idea is synchronized FX settlement. The trials linked conventional Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) systems with platforms built on distributed ledger technology (DLT), the tokenized infrastructure that blockchains popularized.

The bridge was a prototype called the Synchronisation Operator, built by fintech firm Partior. It coordinated settlement across the three central banks’ systems so the separate legs of a trade could complete together.

The model the trials tested is known as payment-versus-payment, or PvP. In FX, that means one currency moves only if the other currency moves too.

According to the project findings, the trials showed PvP settlement working across all three central banks’ systems. They did so while spanning different technologies and currencies, and while keeping the essential properties of central bank money intact.

The risk it is meant to shrink

The main target is what bankers call Herstatt risk. That is the danger that one side of a currency trade pays out, and the other side fails before delivering its half.

The project also focused on liquidity efficiency. Banks often have to park cash to cover settlement timing gaps, and that cash cannot be put to other use while it waits.

The trials pursued those gains through synchronization rather than by forcing everyone onto one platform. The project did not require a unified infrastructure or a single shared ledger. Each system keeps running its own way, and the operator coordinates the timing.

The prototype was also developed to handle multilateral netting across the test setups. Netting means offsetting what many parties owe one another so fewer, smaller payments actually need to move.

The scale gives this weight. The research cites daily FX transaction volumes of over $1.4 trillion as of the 2025 BIS Triennial Survey.

How we got here

Project Meridian FX APAC did not appear from nowhere. It builds on earlier work by the Bank for International Settlements under its Project Meridian FX initiative.

The three central banks first announced their collaboration in November 2025. Almost exactly a year later, they reported the trials complete.

The trials also had observers. The Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas followed along and contributed insights during testing.

What this means

The biggest takeaway is the Bank of England’s next step. It plans to launch a live synchronization interface in 2028.

The Bank of England has framed the interface as a way to accommodate tokenized assets as they evolve, alongside different forms of wholesale money.

Synchronization does not require a CBDC, but it gives tokenized forms of central bank money a practical way to settle against traditional ones.