Central banks testing smart contract toolkit under BIS Project Pine

Published

2 months ago

May 16, 2025

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Central banks testing smart contract toolkit under BIS Project Pine

Central banks are experimenting with smart contracts to implement monetary policy in tokenized environments, signaling a growing interest in integrating blockchain technology into traditional finance (TradFi).

According to a joint research study by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Innovation Center and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub Swiss Centre, smart contracts could offer central banks flexible, rapid-response tools in a tokenized financial system.

The study, dubbed Project Pine, tested a prototype “generic customizable monetary policy tokenized toolkit” for further research by central banks, according to a BIS report published May 15.

“The smart contract toolkit was fast and flexible,” the BIS wrote. “In hypothetical scenarios, the central bank was able to add and change tools instantly.”

The report emphasized that if tokenization becomes widely adopted for money and securities, smart contracts could play a central role in how monetary policy is executed.

This marks a “first step” in highlighting the potential benefits of tokenization for central banks, according to the BIS.

The framework “speed and consistency” was “validated” within a 10-minute hypothetical scenario where central banks quickly changed collateral criteria and exchanged liquid collateral for illiquid amid falling collateral values.

The smart-contract framework also allowed central banks to deploy a new facility offering reserves and changing the interest rates on the reserves in an “immediate” implementation.

Smart contracts, tokenization may help central banks

Smart contracts and tokenization technology may help central banks’ rapid response to “extraordinary events,” the BIS report said:

“This speed, coupled with the ability to adjust any of the parameters at any time, gives central banks flexibility in responding to unforeseen events and fast-moving crises.”

While promising, the report also acknowledged that central banks will likely face infrastructure challenges, as most existing systems are not designed for these advanced use cases.

Project Pine employed Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard combined with another standard for “access control.”

Financial institutions have increasingly embraced tokenization in recent years.

At the Consensus 2025 conference, Joseph Spiro, product director at DTCC Digital Assets, called stablecoins the “perfect” financial instrument for real-time collateral management for financial transactions such as loans or derivatives.

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Politics

MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

Published

8 hours ago

July 3, 2025

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MP Zarah Sultana who was ousted from Labour announces she is starting new political party with Jeremy Corbyn

An MP who was ousted from the Labour Party has announced she is setting up a new political party with Jeremy Corbyn.

Independent MP Zarah Sultana said she and the former Labour leader will co-lead the new party, which she did not provide a name for.

She said other independent MPs, campaigners and activists from across the country will join them, but did not name anyone.

Politics latest: Zarah Sultana’s stinging resignation letter

Ms Sultana also said she was “resigning” from the Labour Party after 14 years.

She was suspended as a Labour MP shortly after they came to power last summer for voting against the government maintaining the two-child benefit cap.

Several others from the left of the party, including Mr Corbyn, were also suspended for voting against the government, and also remained as independent MPs.

However, Ms Sultana was still a member of the Labour Party – until now.

Mr Corbyn has previously said the independent MPs who were suspended from Labour would “come together” to provide an “alternative.

The other four are: Iqbal Mohamed, Shockat Adam, Ayoub Khan and Adnan Hussain.

Mr Corbyn and the other four independents have not said if they are part of the new party Ms Sultana announced.

In her announcement, Ms Sultana said she would vote to abolish the two-child benefit cap again and also voted against scrapping the winter fuel payment for most pensioners.

Ms Sultana also voted against the government’s welfare bill this week, which was heavily watered down as Sir Keir Starmer tried to prevent a major rebellion from his own MPs.

On Wednesday, Ms Sultana spoke passionately against Palestine Action being proscribed as a terror organisation – but MPs eventually voted for it to be.

She said to proscribe it is “a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth”.

Ms Sultana said they were founding the new party because “Westminster is broken but the real crisis is deeper – just 50 families now own more wealth than half the UK population”.

She called Reform leader Nigel Farage “a billionaire-backed grifter” leading the polls “because Labour has completely failed to improve people’s lives.

The MP, who has spoken passionately about Gaza, added: “Across the political establishment, from Farage to Starmer, they smear people of conscience trying to stop a genocide in Gaza as terrorists.

“But the truth is clear: this government is an active participant in genocide. And the British people oppose it.

“We are not going to take this anymore.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said: “In just 12 months, this Labour government has boosted wages, delivered an extra four million NHS appointments, opened 750 free breakfast clubs, secured three trade deals and four interest rate cuts lowering mortgage payments for millions.

“Only Labour can deliver the change needed to renew Britain.”