[ad_1]
French international banking group BNP Paribas makes headlines after the conglomerate, along with French bank CA CIB and French investment firm Caisse des Dépôts, announced the launch of a project exploring a digital interbank currency (DIBC). The the firm in question will also include tokenization solutions company Tokeny and The Blockchain XDEV (a subsidiary of the Blockchain group). In fact, project members also called in other international participants, with the project expected to be completed by 2021.
The participants in question chose the blockchain technologies of Ethereum and Tezos to explore how financial transactions involving digital assets can be settled across platforms. It should be noted, however, that The Blockchain Group’s announcement does not explain why Ethereum and Tezos were chosen.
It could be argued that ConsenSys’ recent projects sent a signal to several central banks to explore Ethereum’s technology, especially after announcing the development of a PoC with the Bank of Thailand for a digital Baht. In fact, ConsenSys too collaborated with the HKMA for a cross-border proof of payment with Thailand as part of the second phase of the Inthanon-LionRock project.
In Europe, Consensys announced a cooperation with Société Générale Forge on CBDC tests with the Banque de France. Indeed, the French central bank had announced the selection of eight companies to participate in its wholesale CBDC testing, with one such company being SocGen Forge, a company that uses Tezos as a platform for its testing.
The aforementioned announcement also stated that these entities will experiment to see if token or securities transactions within blockchain networks are atomized. Participants intend to test atomic delivery functionality which could increase transaction speed and reduce costs. Partners will also collect information on the legal aspect of transactions through the project. They intend to use this information to contribute to the European Union’s exploratory work on digital asset regulation.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia met with several organizations earlier this month to plan a proof of concept (PoC) for a DLT-based wholesale CBDC, or more specifically, Ethereum. In other news, the Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) has also developed a blockchain-based clearing system that could be used by some of the largest financial institutions in the country.
What’s also interesting is that the world’s eighth-largest bank by total assets, BNP Paribas, has been ahead of its American counterparts by some distance. This, especially after it launched a proof of concept with Curv, a digital asset service provider, in July. It was around the same time that the US OCC allowed nationally established banks to store and transfer digital assets.
