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. 

BIS provided 10 high-level recommendations on the following topics relating to GSC arrangements:

1. Regulation and supervision;
2. Comprehensive oversight;
3. Cross-border cooperation, coordination and information sharing;
4. Governance structures and decentralised operations;
5. Risk management;
6. Data storage and access to data;
7. Recovery and resolution of the GSC;
8. Disclosures;
9. Redemption rights, stabilisation and prudential requirements; and
10. Conformance with regulatory, supervisory and oversight requirements before commencing operations.

Using the "new and unregulated crypto sector as a testing ground", the paper examines how regulation affects the venture capital funding of "young and innovative firms." It focuses on understanding if and how an increase in the stringency of regulation reduces the knowledge gap between entrepreneurs and investors.

The paper looks at how different regulatory interventions at the state level in the United States impact the amount of funding raised by startups.

The proposed changes set out the criteria on the composition of the reserve assets that back stablecoins and puts in place a due diligence requirement to ensure that banks have an adequate understanding of their stabilisation mechanisms.

The consultation also includes various proposed technical amendments and a set of answers to frequently asked questions to help promote a consistent understanding of the cryptoasset standard.

Deadline for comments is 28 March 2024.