Banque de France successfully conducted a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) experiment with SEBA Bank, as part of the experimental programme launched in March 2020.

The experiment consisted in using the CBDC to simulate the settlement of listed securities and thus trigger their delivery in TARGET2-Securities (T2S), in test environment, thanks to Conditional Securities Delivery (CoSD) existing feature in T2S.

From a technological point of view, Banque de France simulated CBDC issuance on public blockchain, by preserving control and confidentiality of transactions, based on the development and deployment of a dedicated smart contract.

All these operations were conducted in collaboration with SEBA Bank, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg and LuxCSD.

The programme’s other experiments are ongoing until mid-2021 and all the lessons learned will be an important part of the Banque de France’s contribution to the Eurosystem’s more global reflection on the benefits of CBDC.

Nathalie Aufauvre, General Director of Financial Stability and Operations said,

“This experiment made it possible to demonstrate the possibilities of interaction between conventional and distributed infrastructures.

 

It also paves the way for other alliances in order to benefit from the opportunities offered by financial assets in a blockchain environment.”

Matthew Alexander, Head Digital Corporate Finance SEBA Bank said,

“We are delighted to have led the successful completion of this experiment with the Banque de France and to have leveraged SEBA Bank’s institutional grade digital assets platform infrastructure to support Banque de France in this important development and contribution towards the possibility of a Digital European currency.”

Featured image: Banque de France Mbzt – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link