Bank of Canada Looking to Hire a CBDC Project Architect
The Bank of Canada is looking to hire a central bank digital currency (CBDC) Project Architect to lead the design “a digital currency product and services to meet both the Bank of Canada’s policy goals and the needs of millions of users, merchants and other stakeholders.” I very much like the way they lay out its minimum CBDC design objectives. They’re a model for all central banks to follow:
- Universally accessible: Regardless of their circumstances, CBDC should be usable by all Canadians, even by those without a bank account or access to a cellular phone, in remote communities not well served by cellular networks, and/or those with sensory, motor and cognitive impairments.
- Resilient: CBDC should have extremely high availability and best in class Service Level Objectives (SLOs) such as Recovery Time Objective (RTO) and Recovery Point Objective (RPO).
- Secure: CBDC must have the highest levels of security so Canadians can use it with confidence, as they do our banknotes.
- Private: While not aiming for cash-like anonymity, CBDC should be highly private yet meet the obligation to be compliant with anti-money laundering and other regulations.
We will design an architecture into which these properties that are coherently embedded, with a potentially multi-decade evolving lifespan, supporting a business model designed to achieve CBDC policy goals.
China vows to crack down on bitcoin mining, trading activities
China’s State Council Financial Stability and Development Committee called for a crack down on bitcoin mining and trading activities as part of efforts to fend off financial risks. This is the first time the State Council has explicitly targeted crypto mining activities. The statement, which comes just days after three Chinese industry bodies tightened a ban on banks and payment companies providing crypto-related services, marks a sharp escalation of moves against virtual currencies.
*For those interested in intra-day updates and news that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, please check out my Diigo fintech bookmarks: https://www.diigo.com/user/kiffmeister/Fintech
