Banque de France, the central bank of France, has announced that France has become the first country to successfully trial a digital euro, operational on a blockchain, after a call for new technology to back such a development at the end of March.
On May 20, it has been reported that the bank tested a sale of securities for central bank digital currency (CBDC) on May 14 by signaling the beginning of more robust testing.
However, though the bank’s announcement did not go into great detail, it indicated that the current pilot program is focusing on wholesale rather than retail uses for a digital euro, as retail CBDCs would operate open to regular consumers’ à la Bitcoin or Apple Pay.
France sees first successful pilot of a digital euro https://t.co/85GAFwcRBc — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 20, 2020
It has been analyzed that a wholesale CBDC would be the province of banks and institutional players, as the French central bank says “interbank regulations.”
As per the report, this recent pilot of a security issuance in exchange for a digital euro was based on software received after the bank’s March 27 call for applications.
According to the announcement, the bank will spend the coming weeks running similar tests on other files received as part of the same initiative.
Thus, the central bank has been known to be especially active in developing a digital euro, as France will become the second-largest economy in the Eurozone after Germany.
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Cryptocurrency