The central French bank announced this Tuesday that it had completed a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot transaction. The Banque de France had collaborated with SETL, a London-based financial services company, in order to get the much needed distributed ledger technology (DLT). The collaboration also guaranteed that the bank gets the necessary infrastructure for the issuance of the centralized digital currency.
Sir David Walker, leader and chairman of SETL commented in a statement that “The successful completion of a central bank digital currency live experiment with BDF confirms that SETL is uniquely positioned to help transform Financial Markets,”
In the experiment phase, the bank successfully simulated cash transactions using the CBDC. The experiment was completed after the French bank named its eight private partners for interbank settlements.
Notably, the Banque de France tested its digitized euro with Société Générale in circumstances close to those of the real world.
The race for a central bank digital currency in Europe is now a fact, and with this latest move, France seems to be holding the first position. While this is going on, the European Central Bank is assessing the importance of the digital euro. The president of the bank noted that it might launch its own CBDC in the next two years.
