The central bank of France, Banque de France has announced that it has picked out eight potential candidates to test trail its digital euro.
According to an announcement on 20. July, the potential candidates include leading industry players such as Accenture, HSBC, and Societe Generale.
Small crypto players like Seba Bank and LiquidShare are also among the list.
Today @banquedefrance announced candidates selected for experiments w/ central bank digital money (MDBC) in interbank settlements: – Accenture – Euroclear – HSBC – Iznes – LiquidShare – ProsperUS – Seba Bank – Société Générale – Forgehttps://t.co/MRFIekYZ4G#Bitcoin #crypto — Andy Yee (@ahkyee) July 21, 2020
In March, Banque de France called out applicants to experiment with its digital euro.
The announcement had initially considered for 10 applicants for its CBDC project with “innovative nature” being one of the main selection criteria.
Cut to the present, the central bank will start working with eight major players over the “next months” on the proposed CBDC trial to explore “new methods of exchanging financial instruments”.
The test trial will start on establishing how central bank digital currencies can be used for cross border payments.
Reportedly, the central bank might research on wholesale use rather than retail for its digital euro. It means that the central bank digital currency is for “interbank regulations”, not consumer purposes.
France has always been the frontrunner in European CBDC experiments.
In May, France successfully trialed a digital euro on the blockchain, becoming one of the first countries to do so as a part of its ongoing project with the Societe Generale project.
Although it is not known whether its experiments will ever be adopted in European Union, its central bank has been chosen to represent the Eurosystem along with the Deutsche Bundesbank as part of the Bank for International Settlements’ global “BIS Innovation Hub” network.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Unsplash