BOE Tests Stablecoin-Digital Pound Flow for Trade Finance

One workstream will build an SME “bankable profile.” NOBO, Dun & Bradstreet, and Polygon plan to combine wallet transaction data, open-finance information, and business intelligence into a reusable credit assessment. Polygon will supply smart contracts to record the verified outcome and manage consent.

A second workstream tests invoice factoring backed by electronic bills of lading. An exporter would receive an advance via stablecoin, while a U.K. importer settles in digital pounds.

“For digital money to actually move the world’s trade, its different forms have to work together – public and private, central bank money and stablecoins,” Marc Boiron, CEO of Polygon Labs, said in a statement. “This experiment tests exactly that.”

Polygon is providing its Open Money Stack for stablecoin settlement, including fiat-to-stablecoin conversion, wallets, and smart contracts.

The findings will feed into the BOE and Treasury’s joint assessment of the digital pound ahead of next steps later this year. The broader question is whether different forms of digital money can interoperate, instead of forcing companies and customers onto a single payment infrastructure.

“Cross-border SME trade finance is still slowed by fragmented verification, manual checks, and settlement that can take days,” the group said in a statement. “For small businesses, the gap between shipping goods and receiving payment is frozen capital.”