The Bank of England has selected Polygon Labs, NOBO Finance, and business data provider Dun & Bradstreet to conduct the next phase of its Digital Pound Lab program.
These companies are testing how a central bank digital pound and private stablecoins can be used to settle different parts of the same cross-border trade transaction.
What Problem is the Bank of England Trying to Solve?
For small businesses involved in exporting and importing goods, trade finance remains a slow and costly process due to verification by multiple parties and settlements that can take days. Large companies can afford this delay through treasury operations, but small firms face a cash gap between shipping goods and receiving payment.
The Bank of England is trying to solve this problem by using various forms of digital money working together.
The consortium , which includes the selected Polygon Labs, NOBO Finance, and Dun & Bradstreet, is implementing two interconnected projects as part of the central bank's experimental program.
The first method creates a profile that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can use when approaching different lenders, instead of repeatedly submitting the same documents each time — a so-called 'Bank-Grade SME Profile'.
Dun & Bradstreet handles risk data processing for this project, while Polygon Labs provides 'smart' contract tracing services.
Polygon is also developing stablecoins for the second project, which examines the possibility of companies receiving early payment on invoices using shipping documents as collateral.
The potential borrower profile for SMEs is created by combining three data sources: signals from e-wallet transactions, open financial market data, and Dun & Bradstreet's commercial records.
Has the Digital Pound Launched?
The Bank of England has made it clear that the lab does not involve real customers or real money. Participation in the testing also does not imply a decision has been made to issue a digital pound.
UK fintech firm NOBO has moved to the second phase after successfully completing the first phase, which implemented conditional B2B payments via escrow accounts. The new phase uses Dun & Bradstreet business data and the Polygon blockchain for enhanced security and efficiency.
Polygon processes stablecoin payments through its Open Money Stack platform, which manages the conversion of fiat to stablecoins, wallets, and settlements.
The Polygon network processed 743 million transactions in Q2 2026, a 160% increase compared to the same period last year. As Cryptopolitan reports, this was primarily driven by stablecoin transfers. To date, Polygon has settled over $2.6 trillion in stablecoin transaction volume and works with companies such as Revolut and Stripe.
The results of the second phase will form the basis for the Bank of England and the UK Treasury's assessment of the digital pound before taking further steps at the end of 2026.
