On Wednesday, the Bank of France (BdF), Innovation Center (BISIH) and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced a successful pilot launch of a central bank digital currency (wCBDC) called Project Jura. The project, aimed at studying international settlements using the euro and the Swiss franc, was launched on a third-party technology platform of the distributed ledger.
The experimental technology being explored in Project Jura is a peer-to-peer decentralized network of data nodes (Corda) for verifying transactions while ensuring that all legal, regulatory and business rules are complied with in the governing countries. Then there was the mark-up of the aforementioned fiat currencies and European tradable bills, which are short-term debt instruments (one year or less) denominated in euros. Finally, Project Jura explored infrastructure networks that enable real-time aggregated settlement of transactions, digitize bonds, and register digital assets.
While the test was successful, it does not guarantee that the wCBDC will be released by the authorities in Switzerland, France or Europe. The report concluded that “WCBDCs could be incorporated into new settlement schemes that could change the structure and function of capital markets, money markets and foreign exchange markets,” and states:
“Increased use of central bank funds through wider access or increased cross-border settlement could accelerate these changes, as well as lead to deeper integration of currencies with digital assets and other securities.”
