The National Bank of Georgia will launch a pilot project for the digital lari with the participation of nine companies, including Ripple Labs. One of them will have the opportunity to proceed to the next testing phase.
The list includes Augentic, Bitt, Broxus Holdings, Currency Network, DCM, eCurrency Mint, FARI Solutions and Sovereign Wallet.
The initiative is tied to the authorities’ push to join the EU. It is envisaged that CBDC will achieve operational interoperability with the digital euro while preserving monetary sovereignty.
According to the Bank of Georgia’s report, the regulator is considering a two-tier design for the new form of money, with wallets provided by a third party. It is expected to be programmable and to support asset tokenisation.
According to Varlam Ebanoidze, head of the regulator’s fintech technology department, use cases for the digital lari include insuring agricultural-sector companies and automating real estate transactions.
In September, the National Bank of Georgia became a participant in the mBridge project — a platform for cross-border payments involving CBDCs — as an observer.
Earlier, the central bank stated in May 2021 its plans to issue the digital lari.