A crypto-euro soon available? – The Banque de France has successfully performed its first test of a central bank digital currency (MNBC). On December 17, she proposed a subscription to a monetary fund using a digital currency issued on a private blockchain.
The Banque de France wants its crypto-euro
The Banque de France announced on January 19 that the pilot project had been a great success. The test enabled investors to buy and then sell more than 2 million euros in shares of a money market fund.
The blockchain infrastructure for this test was provided by SETL, a UK-based blockchain service provider. Although this is only a test, we can only regret the absence of a French actor to support the project.
“From a technological point of view, the experimentation required the development and deployment of smart contracts so that the Banque de France can issue and control the circulation of MNBC tokens and that their transfer takes place simultaneously with the delivery of the tokens. of fund units in the investors’ portfolio. “
Banque de France press release
The second pitfall of this project is the lack of European coordination on the issue. Several Member States of the European Union have undertaken experiments on MNBCs. These tests were technically successful, but regulatory questions remain. We can only hope that these efforts will be pooled in the near future, in order to secure the European position on the issue.
MNBCs in the spotlight
The current bull run and China’s steady advance on its digital yuan have put MNBCs back in the spotlight early in 2021. Indeed, Jerome Powel, Fed Director, said the creation of a MNBC was a top priority to stem the proliferation of “private sector bad currencies”.
Since last week, China has deployed its first vending machines for its crypto yuan in the province of Shenzhen.
The Middle Kingdom is clearly outstripping all of its competitors in the race for central bank digital currencies.