According to a new paper by the World Economic Forum, approximately 40 central banks across the globe are experimenting with blockchain technology. A project leader in blockchain and distributed ledger technology at the World Economic Forum, Ashley Lannquist, who is also the original writer of the report, believes that it’s pretty much the case that numerous central banks are contemplating at this and experimenting with cryptocurrencies.
The report pronounces that the degree of this experimentation differs significantly among banks, the degree of blockchain technology investigation and testing varies greatly amidst central banks, as do the motivations for business. Some central banks are increasing, having begun research and experimentation as recently as 2014 and has conducted multiple pilots or constant deployments. Another set of organizations is interested and engrossed in the technology but basically monitors activity by peer institutions and inside the private sector, including cryptocurrency investing activity. The last set has not yet committed resources to blockchain technology research and may nevermore do so, either owing to pressing preferences or the view that DLT at this stage does not guarantee sufficient upside when reflecting technological immaturity and opportunities.
The paper states how these central banks who have completed their CBDC pilots, in many of these CBDC pilots, the central bank gives digital tokens on a distributed ledger that exemplify, and are correctable for, central bank reserves in the domestic currency kept in a separate account with the central bank. The operators in the system use the CBDC to make interbank transfers that are authorized and settled on the distributed ledger.
The central banks favor permissioned blockchain networks to build their CBDCs, and the central banks usually utilize “permissioned” blockchain network implementations, where all participants are restricted and must be granted passage to participate in the network and observe the set of transactions. The central bank prefers, according to suitability and availability, the nature of the network and its internal mechanisms (most importantly, the decentralized agreement mechanism the network practices for associates to reach agreement on legitimate transactions). R3’s Corda, J.P. Morgan’s Quorum, the Linux Foundation’s Hyperledger Fabric, or a simple private contour of the Ethereum blockchain network are the most conventional implementations adopted by central banks.
