ECB intensifies its work on a digital euro
The European Central Bank (ECB) published a report on the possible issuance of a digital euro, prepared by the Eurosystem High-Level Task Force on central bank digital currency (CBDC) and approved by the Governing Council. A public consultation will be launched on 12 October to assess the needs of all stakeholders, as well as the benefits and challenges they expect from the issuance of a digital euro, in detail. Experimentation will start in parallel, without prejudice to the final decision. Fabio Panetta, member of the ECB’s Executive Board and Chair of the task force said “a digital euro would support Europe’s drive towards continued innovation, contribute to its financial sovereignty and strengthen the international role of the euro.”
Eesti Pank is launching a research project into central bank digital currency
Estonia’s central bank, Eesti Pank, has launched a multi-year project with Guardtime and The SW7 Group to research how technologically suitable the Estonian e-government core technology is for operating a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The aim of the two-year multi-phase project is to investigate how suitable a solution based on the KSI Blockchain, a core technology of e-government in Estonia, could be for operating central bank digital money infrastructure. It will also examine new payment solutions that could be made possible by using electronic identity and other Estonian e-government solutions.
Ripple Wins US Patent for New Oracle-Based Smart Contract Design
Ripple Labs received a patent for a smart contract that can use oracles to connect a distributed platform to a variety of different real-world data. Originally filed in June 2018, one example of a use case provided includes using the smart contracts to automatically settle options contracts when pre-agreed conditions are met, such as a company’s debt-to-equity ratio hitting a certain threshold. Another example, for the oil industry, is feeding data on the density of a specific crude oil shipment to help a smart contract determine whether to make a trade.
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