The Central Bank of France has found candidates for the digital euro test
According to yesterday's announcement, the Banque de France has selected eight potential candidates to test the integration of CBDC in interbank settlements.
The selected companies are:
- Accenture (an international consulting company);
- Euroclear (the world's largest investment settlement / delivery system);
- HSBC (British Multinational Investment Bank);
- Iznes (blockchain record company);
- LiquidShare (fintech focused on security tokens);
- ProsperUS (digital trading platform);
- SEBA Bank AG (Swiss cryptocurrency-friendly bank);
- Société Générale - Forge (subsidiary of Société Générale dealing in the sale of security tokens).
The announcement follows a request from the central bank that called on tech companies to submit requests for experiments using the digital euro. The institution then stated that it would select up to 10 CBDC-related companies, with "innovative nature" being one of the main selection criteria.
Now the French central bank will start working with each of the eight actors on their experiment proposals "in the coming months" to explore "new methods of exchanging financial instruments". In addition, pilot projects will attempt to establish how CBDCs can be distributed and used for cross-border payments.
Until now, France has been at the forefront of European CBDC experiments. In May, it became the first country to successfully try digital euro on blockchain as part of an ongoing project with Societe Generale.