Overview
- The Bank of England named NOBO Finance, Dun & Bradstreet and Polygon Labs as Phase Two participants on Wednesday to run two connected pilot tracks inside its Digital Pound Lab.
- One workstream will build a reusable SME 'bankable profile' that combines consented wallet transactions, open finance data and Dun & Bradstreet commercial intelligence to produce a pre‑qualified credit outcome for lenders.
- The second workstream will test invoice factoring linked to an electronic bill of lading where exporters could receive stablecoin advances and UK importers complete final settlement in a simulated digital pound.
- The trials run in a non‑live sandbox that uses Hyperledger Besu and Polygon’s Open Money Stack for wallets, smart contracts and fiat‑to‑stablecoin conversion and do not use real customers or real money.
- Results from the pilots will feed the Bank and HM Treasury’s assessment later in 2026 and will examine practical hurdles such as foreign‑exchange, sanctions screening and lenders’ credit appetite while aiming to free up SME working capital.