BIS to Heighten Focus On CBDC Experiments, Launch Stablecoin Monitoring Project
Table of contents
BIS to Focus on CBDC Projects in 2023
While making the announcement, the bank also added that its work schedule for the year ahead also includes “Project Pyxtrial,” which it described as a new experiment being launched by the London branch of the BIS Innovation Hub to enable the systemic monitoring of stablecoins. Pyxtrial will develop a platform to monitor the balance sheets of stablecoins. The bank noted that most central banks lack the tools to systemically monitor stablecoins and avoid asset-liability mismatches.
For its CBDC-related projects, the BIS will focus more on retail CBDCs such as the two-tiered system called Aurum that it piloted in Hong Kong in July 2022.
It stated that CBDCs and payment systems improvements accounted for 15 of the 26 projects that have been active in the last couple of years. It cited increased awareness from central banks as the primary driver.
Other CBDC Experiments
BIS also plans to experiment with the distribution of a retail CBDC through an open API ecosystem in a joint experiment, dubbed Rosalind, with the Bank of England (BOE). In September 2022, the BIS concluded a pilot for a platform called mBridge, short for Multiple CBDC Bridge. The central banks of Hong Kong, Thailand, China, and the United Arab Emirates took part in the pilot in addition to 20 commercial banks from the countries.
According to the Atlantic Council’s CBDC tracker, just 11 countries have fully launched a CBDC which are all located in the Caribbean aside from Nigeria. There are 17 nations undergoing pilots, mostly in Asia, including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, India, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia.