European Union central banks will publish plans for a wholesale central digital currency (CBDC) in the coming weeks, François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of France’s central , said at a Tuesday event in Paris.

Fast Facts

• Galhau said CBDC experiments will be rolled out next year, including trials with real transactions.
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• He added that a permissioned network using smart contracts would enable banks to continue governing the money supply in the economy, which central bankers say is important for managing inflation and maintaining financial stability.
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• A wholesale CBDC is primarily used by financial institutions for interbank settlements rather than every day transactions that are enabled by a retail CBDC. 

• The development comes three months after the EU published two proposals, including one for the digital euro, the European Central Bank’s CBDC.
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• Villeroy de Galhau said that the central will be exploring blockchain and alternative protocols for settlement, besides the ’s own Distributed Ledger for Securities Settlement System (DL3S), which is a permissioned blockchain designed for settlement via CBDC.

Source : Forkast / October 04, 2023