Today Eesti Pank, Estonia’s central bank, announced a multi-year central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative in collaboration with enterprise blockchain firm Guardtime and SW7 Group. Estonia is part of the eurozone so this is a digital euro project.
The announcement says that the European Central Bank’s Governing Council decided last week that central banks in the euro area will coordinate research into CBDC solutions.
Estonia sees itself as in a strong position because it has one of the most advanced e-government infrastructures globally.
It plans to explore the use of KSI Blockchain, Guardtime’s technology, which is used in Estonia’s e-government solutions. In addition to exploring a digital money infrastructure, it will examine potential new payment solutions that use electronic identity and other Estonian e-government solutions.
The first phase will focus on the architecture of a solution, and the entire project is expected to last two years.
Apart from its involvement with the Estonian government, Guardtime has partnered with EY on multiple blockchain projects, including for the US government and Insurwave, a blockchain-based marine insurance platform. It’s also working on a WHO blockchain vaccination certificate solution.
