CBDC Round-Up

DeFi Technology Concepts Tested X-Border by the BIS

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has used decentralised finance (DeFi) technology concepts on a public blockchain to trade and settle hypothetical euro, Swiss franc and Singapore dollar wholesale CBDCs across borders between simulated financial institutions. An Automated Market Maker was used to trade and settle foreign exchange automatically.

Project Mariana was conducted by Banque de France, Swiss National Bank and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, along with the BIS hubs in Europe, Switzerland and Singapore.

Tokenisation and DeFi are very new and so the BIS was keen to explore their potential for possible future use.

The Contribution of CBDCs to Financial Inclusion

The IMF has issued a paper looking at how CBDCs can contribute to financial inclusion. 60% of Emerging Market Economies see financial inclusion as one of their top three reasons for introducing a CBDC.