Bank of England lab tests stablecoin and digital-pound design for cross-border SME finance

# Bank of England lab tests stablecoin and digital-pound design for cross-border SME finance

> Evidence tier: B1
> Evidence type: Independent digital-asset media report based on Bank of England Digital Pound Lab materials
> Source: [CoinDesk](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/08/12/bank-of-england-to-test-stablecoin-digital-currency-use-in-cross-border-finance)
> Published: 2026-08-12
> Captured: 2026-08-12T13:33:05.044Z

## Source summary

CoinDesk reports that phase two of the Bank of England's Digital Pound Lab includes NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs testing a cross-border trade-finance concept. The design combines a reusable SME credit profile and electronic bill of lading with invoice factoring: a stablecoin would advance funds to an exporter and a U.K. importer would make final settlement in a potential digital pound.

## Why it matters

The prototype links identity, trade documents, working-capital finance and two digital settlement assets in one cross-border workflow, addressing the SME trade-finance gap rather than only payment speed. It is a lab experiment with no real customers or money and does not signal that the Bank of England has decided to issue a digital pound.

## Key numbers

- **Digital Pound Lab stage:** phase two
- **Private participants named in this workstream:** 3

## Topics and entities

- Industry lane: Web3 & stablecoin payments
- Entities: Bank of England / NOBO Finance / Dun & Bradstreet / Polygon Labs
- Web3 payments
- Cross-border payments
- Payment infrastructure

## Evidence and credibility note

Independent CoinDesk report based on Bank of England lab materials, corroborated by GTR. This is a no-real-money prototype, not a production launch or issuance decision.

Date evidence: Automatically verified from JSON-LD datePublished: 2026-08-12T10:17:05.576Z

## First-party corroboration

- [https://www.gtreview.com/news/digital-trade/bank-of-englands-digital-pound-lab-explores-new-approach-for-sme-trade-finance-gap](/en/items/https://www.gtreview.com/news/digital-trade/bank-of-englands-digital-pound-lab-explores-new-approach-for-sme-trade-finance-gap)

## Original-source traceback

[Open the original CoinDesk report](https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/08/12/bank-of-england-to-test-stablecoin-digital-currency-use-in-cross-border-finance)

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This is a structured Payments Hot Markdown source summary derived from external reporting. Use the original link above to read the publisher's article; copyright remains with the original publisher.