The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has branded its recent CBDC pilot test a success after it saw transactions going to $22 million. The CBDC was tested across many jurisdictions in the span of a month. Several central banks from Asian nations, including China, were involved, with more than 20 banks from the region actively in the project. Other countries in the BIS test include Thailand, the UAE, and Hong Kong.
More than $22 million was transacted on the platform
In the details released by the Bank of International Settlements when it began, only $12 million worth of value was available on the test platform. This value was responsible for more than 164 transactions, with most payments across the border between the banks in the countries listed above. In a post from the BIS, the value had already risen and now totaled $22 million.
According to one of the executives of the Bank of International Settlements, the test focused on the usage of CBDC in cross-border capacity on a wholesale level. He also mentioned that another aspect of the test looked into the specific roles that each central bank carried out on the platform. However, the executive is upbeat about the test driving into the commercial lane in the coming years.
Bank of International Settlements will release a progress report in October
This project, dubbed mBridge, has been around for a long time as a project being footed by the Inthanon-LionRock DLT. It was initially developed to service only Hong Kong and Thailand but has now spread to other Asian countries. With this project phase already done and dusted, new information is being moved to a final stage. After this, a miniature version of the product will be rolled out into the market.
The Bank of International Settlements report for September 2021 noted that the CBDC could only be certified ready if all the necessary corrections are carried out after the feedback from the smaller version that will be released. The body also mentioned that it would look into other aspects of the CBDC and prepare a report in October. According to a recent report, more than 80% of the banks worldwide have indicated an interest in adopting the CBDC. The details from a CBDC tracking website show that about 10 are fully functional, with 15 currently being tested while 26 are still in their development stage.
