The Bank of France, the country's central bank, has selected several candidates to test the digital euro, according to an announcement shared yesterday by the institution.
In particular, the central bank has chosen 8 candidates (Accenture, Euroclear, HSBC, Iznes, LiquidShare, ProsperUS, Seba Bank and Societe Generale), who will participate in experiments in various areas.
These experiments, which will start in the coming days, still will not include the transfer of digital assets.
According to the announcement:
"The experiments proposed by the selected candidates will allow (i) to explore new methods of exchanging financial instruments (excluding crypto-assets) for central bank money, (ii) to test the regulation in digital central bank money in order to improve the conditions for carrying out cross-border payments and (iii) revisit the arrangements for making central bank money available."
The Bank of France unveiled back in March its plans to test a digital euro, saying it would select a maximum of 10 applications related to the CBDC, being "innovative nature" one of the main selection criteria.
iHodl reported in late 2019 that the institution planned to start testing its central bank digital currency in 2020.
The bank will focus its research on wholesale uses, which means its CBDC is designed for "interbank regulations," not for retail users.
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