Mariana's success in using cryptocurrencies for central banks

 

Mariana's success :

in using :

cryptocurrencies for central banks :

• Singapore's monetary authority announced on Thursday that

• it had successfully concluded the Mariana project

• in partnership with central banks in France

Switzerland and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

The project sought to test whether it was possible to conduct

cross-border trade using the central bank's wholesale digital currencies (wCBDCs).

The development

of the so-called Mariana project

was led by three centres of the Bank

for International Settlements' Innovation Centre

(Swiss Centres, Singapore and the European System)

along with the Bank of France

the Singapore Monetary Authority and the Swiss National Bank.

In order to test cross-border trade

and settlement

project proof of concept used a virtual cryptocurrency for the euro

Singapore dollar and Swiss franc among financial institutions that

benefit from the concepts of

decentralized finance technology (Defi) on public blockchain.

The project is based on

• a symbolic common standard on public blockchain that

• facilitates the interoperability and smooth exchange of

• wCBDC via various local payment

and settlement systems maintained by participating central banks.

In recent months

• Many countries across Europe

• and Asia have expressed interest in issuing cryptocurrencies

• to the central bank wholesale - which enable the settlement of

transfers between banks.

Amid growing interest in :

central banks' wholesale cryptocurrencies

1. the Mariana project sought to investigate
2. how foreign exchange settlement works in
3. a world where central banks

have launched their own central banks' cryptocurrencies.

Mariana pioneers the use of

new technology for interbank foreign exchange markets.

Cecilia Skingsley

Head of the Innovation Centre at the Bank for International Settlements

said:

• I have successfully demonstrated that

• it is possible to exchange central banks'

• cryptocurrencies wholesale across borders

using new concepts such as automated market makers (AMM)."

The Mariana project reportedly used smart contracts, which allowed central banks to manage their wCBDC without having to run directly or control the platform.

Singapore's

central bank said in the press release:

Decentralized financing elements (DeFi) tested in the project

specifically automated market makers

can form the basis for a new generation of financial market infrastructure.

It is important to 

• acknowledge that the Bank for International Settlements

• has been leading the promotion of central banks'

• cross-border digital currencies

having conducted several experimental tests worldwide.