US banks test concept for a blockchain platform for the digital dollar

A group of banking institutions announced the launch of a pilot for a blockchain-based digital money platform named the Regulated Liability Network (RLN). The press release says говорится in a press release.

Participants in the test will include BNY Mellon, Citi, HSBC, Mastercard, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Truist, US Bank, Wells Fargo, as well as the Innovation Center of the FRB in New York.

“During a 12-week proof-of-concept, a version of the RLN design that operates solely in US dollars will be tested, where commercial banks issue modelled digital money or ‘tokens’ representing their clients’ deposits, and settle using simulated central-bank reserves on a shared multi-platform,” the statement said.

The project relies on existing regulatory frameworks, including AML measures and requirements for processing deposit payments. The concept does not exclude expansion into multi-currency operations and other digital assets such as stablecoins.

Results will be published after the pilot is completed.

“This project will be conducted in a test environment and will use only simulated data. It is not intended to signal that the Federal Reserve System (the Fed) will take any definitive decisions about the desirability of issuing retail or wholesale CBDCs,” the group stressed.

Former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden, who had previously criticised central-bank digital currencies, commented on the news with the phrase: “It begins”.

It begins. https://t.co/B67nUuP242

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) November 15, 2022

Earlier, the New York Fed Innovation Center and the Monetary Authority of Singapore launched the Cedar Phase II x Ubin+. Its aim is to study the interoperability of wholesale CBDCs in cross-border transactions.

In September, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said there was no decision on launching a digital dollar.

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