The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and its central bank partners have shown through Project Mandala that regulatory compliance can be embedded into cross-border transaction protocols.

The project is a collaboration involving central banks worldwide, including the BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Korea, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

On Oct. 28, the BIS updated its page for Project Mandala, highlighting that the project has reached its proof-of-concept stage. 

The project, which seeks to automate compliance for cross-border transactions, is one of the BIS’ key projects for 2024. On Jan. 23, the BIS included Project Mandala in its work program. 

The project also aligns with the G20 priority actions for enhancing cross-border payments. 

Automated compliance checks in cross-border transactions

In an explainer video, the BIS detailed that, during the proof-of-concept phase of Project Mandala, all participant institutions, including commercial banks, central banks and other regulated financial entities, will operate a Mandala node within their systems.

Participants will interact through a peer-to-peer messaging system, which will help them obtain relevant policies applicable to transactions. The system will then transmit the necessary data to generate proof of compliance and manage any other information needed for automated compliance checks.

Within the Mandala system, rules across jurisdictions are stored in a repository and distributed across relevant parties. The data is applied against consumer transaction data to ensure that cross-border transactions are compliant. 

BIS project demonstrates automated cross-border transaction compliance image 0

How Project Mandala would streamline cross-border transactions. Source: BIS

The system implements zero-knowledge proofs to complete transaction compliance checks privately. ZK-proofs allow a prover to convince a verifier that a particular claim is true without revealing the details of the claims. 

Related: International agencies report on tokenization to G20 officials

BIS “optimistic” about early results

In an announcement, Maha El Dimachki, head of the BIS Innovation Hub Singapore Centre, said that the central bank is optimistic about the potential of Project Mandala’s early results to enhance cross-border payments. 

The official said that Mandala is “pioneering the compliance-by-design approach to improve cross-border payments without compromising privacy or the integrity of regulatory checks.” 

Magazine: India mulls new crypto ban to support CBDC, Lazarus Group strikes again: Asia Express