Today the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) announced a hackathon, the G20 TechSprint with Bank Indonesia that targets central bank digital currencies (CBDC). Indonesia currently holds the G20 Presidency.
The hackathon will focus on three areas. Firstly the basics of effectively issuing, distributing and transferring CBDCS but also including programmability. This can be for either a retail or a wholesale CBDC. It also wants to explore enabling financial inclusion and interoperability with existing payment systems.
“There is a collective belief that CBDCs have potential for promoting the public interest in this age of digital money,” said Agustín Carstens, General Manager of the BIS. “Trust in money is the glue that holds the financial system together. It is for this reason that, as technology advances, central banks must ensure that the monetary system remains fundamentally a public good and preserve its stability.”
Perry Warjiyo, Governor of Bank Indonesia cited the growth in crypto-assets as the number one reason for the need to focus on CBDCs. He described the risks of crypto-assets to financial stability, monetary stability and the global financial system, including cross border payments.
Proposals are accepted from across the globe until May 20. If shortlisted, solutions will need to be produced by the end of August, with shortlisted teams receiving around $10,000 and winners $53,000.
Last year’s TechSprint explored a wider range of topics, including regulatory technology. One of the topics was anti-money laundering for digital assets and crypto-assets.
The API Exchange (APIX) platform will be used for the hackathon. It’s the same platform used in the last G20 TechSprint and the recent Monetary Authority of Singapore Global CBDC Challenge.
