Banque de France publishes interim results of experiments with wholesale CBDC

The Banque de France has released the interim results of its experiments with the central bank digital currency (CBDC).

In the published report, the Central Bank summed up the results of the firsttesting a wholesale version of CBDC designed to enable cross-border payments for trade and asset settlements between institutions. The experiments began in 2020 and were completed in less than a year. In addition to testing the effectiveness of innovative settlement systems, the researchers studied the global impact of CBDC and the interaction mechanisms of digital currencies issueddifferent central banks.

Despite record-breaking deadlines, the French Central Banknoted the interest of market participants in this area, the potential of the technology to prevent fragmentation from stablecoins and unify financial markets. The researchers confirmed that distributed ledger solutions have the potential to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, more transparent and inclusive while complying with all applicable security standards, provided central banks cooperate on this issue.

However, the report says that some of the issuesstill remain open. For example, a more thorough study of the implications of the widespread use of CBDCs on the macroeconomic and fiscal policies of states, technical aspects of transaction control, emission and distribution is needed. In conclusion, the authors of the document recommend that the ECB join the study of the wholesale version of the digital currency.

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