The Bank of Italy began a trial of CBDC, set up in cooperation with financial technology company R3.
Eighteen banking institutions from Italy, as well as the Italian Banking Association, will participate in a CBDC testing initiative called Project Leonidas, using the same network for interbank money transfers. The aim of this study is to assess how blockchain applications can be used to ensure financial security and customer safety.
Project Leonidas started early last year when staff at the Bank of Italy's Milano Hub Innovation Centre tried to identify the potential uses of distributed ledgers in the financial sector. There were 57 CBDC proposals from 81 firms, which are being studied by specialists.
As part of the upcoming experiments, banks are likely to explore the Corda blockchain network developed by R3. They will be issuing CBDCs on this blockchain, and firm NTT Data Italia has been assigned responsibility for connecting Corda to existing financial systems.
