The 2022 TechSprint will be launched by the BIS Innovation Hub and Bank Indonesia on April 25. It will focus on solving technology challenges related to wholesale and retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Shortlisted teams will be invited to showcase their prototypes in July and winners will be chosen in October by an independent panel. Key challenges identified include building effective and robust means to issue, distribute and transfer CBDCs, enabling financial inclusion, and improving interoperability. Proposals must be submitted by May 20, and the short list will be announced on June 15. [Read more]
Will the digital euro respect citizens’ privacy?
This very closely reflects my personal view on an appropriate central bank digital currency (CBDC) privacy standard: “Physical cash should be the standard for evaluating how to strike a balance between ensuring privacy and adhering to anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CTF) rules. At a minimum, this implies allowing real anonymity and transaction privacy for daily life transactions up to limits that are similar to the current limits for cash. In addition to full anonymity for low-value transactions, a high level of pseudo-anonymity should be provided for all larger transactions to ensure a high level of identity protection.” [Read more]
Upcoming events I’m affiliated with:
The CBDC Think Tank is hosting several webinars over the next month:
- On April 27 (at 08:00 EST) the BIS and the Swiss National Bank will present on their Project Helvetia wholesale CBDC work. [Register here]
- On May 3 (at 08:00 EST) the Bank of Ukraine will present on their E-Hryvnia retail CBDC project. [Register here]
Satoshi Capital Advisors is hosting a virtual workshop on wholesale CBDC, stablecoins and digital capital markets on May 24 (starting at 08:00 EST). [Register here with the passcode: CBDC]