Bank of Japan to Pilot Blockchain-Based Settlement Using Central Bank Reserve Deposits

The Bank of Japan will test placing central bank reserve deposits on blockchain infrastructure through a sandbox program focused on domestic interbank and securities settlement, Governor Kazuo Ueda said at the FIN/SUM conference in Tokyo. The pilot targets BOJ current account deposits held by commercial banks and aims to assess whether these institutional reserves can function on blockchain rails while remaining interoperable with BOJNET, Japan's national financial network. Ueda highlighted smart contract code risk as a potential threat to financial market and payment system stability, noting that validating technical robustness is a prerequisite for production use. The BOJ participates in the BIS-led Project Agora on tokenized central bank money for cross-border wholesale settlement and will work with external experts during development, though no specific blockchain architecture or completion timeline was provided.