French central bank, Le Banque de France, has announced it had successfully conducted a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot with the company IZNES for interbank settlements.
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According to an announcement, the pilot included processing of €2 million worth of tokenized shares. Cash settlements were simulated by CBDC issued on the blockchain network. From a technological point of view, the experiment required the development and deployment of smart contracts so that the central bank could simultaneously issue and control the circulation of CBDCs. Launched in December 2020, the pilot carried transactions in a collaboration with IZNES, SETL, CACEIS, Citigroup, GROUPAMA AM, OFI AM and DXC.
"This experiment constitutes a significant advance in the evaluation of the levers that a central bank digital currency provides for strengthening the efficiency and resilience of the settlement of financial assets in a blockchain environment, and hence contribute to the proper functioning of the real economy," states the announcement.
Despite the development of France in the CBDC's environment, the country is tightening crypto-focused business with new regulations. As iHodl reported last year, the French council of ministers approved new regulations focused on tightening the crypto market.
Simon Polrot, president of the French crypto association ADAN, announced that the Ministry of Finance was working on the development of a new regulation aimed not only at tightening the know-your-customer (KYC) rules that must be applied by crypto companies, but also at regulating cryptocurrency transactions.
According to the new regulation, all cryptocurrency transactions via centralized operators are subject to a mandatory KYC process. As a result, all crypto companies in the country are obliged to verify their customers, regardless of the size of the transaction.
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