Digital Dollar Ban vs BIS Project Agora: US Tokenisation Moves

Former CFTC chair Timothy Massad says the US is still exploring digital dollar infrastructure even after a domestic CBDC freeze. Speaking at London’s Digital Money Summit on 19 May 2026, he pointed to BIS cross-border trial “Project Agora,” where the New York Fed works with seven central banks to test tokenised deposits alongside wholesale central bank money on a programmable platform. The comments follow a Trump executive order signed on 23 Jan 2025 that bans a US digital dollar from being issued, circulated or used domestically, and limits federal promotion of foreign CBDCs. A separate Senate bill that would permanently block the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar passed 89–10 and is tied to a housing package, but still needs House approval. A Fed official at the same summit said CBDC work is not currently within the Fed’s remit. For crypto traders, the key takeaway is that “digital dollar” discussions are shifting toward cross-border tokenisation experiments (BIS Project Agora), while the domestic ban remains the primary near-term regulatory risk. This framing could affect expectations for dollar settlement rails, competition with stablecoins, and how tokenised payments may be regulated.