SWIFT revealed the successful results of its first stage of CBDC testing, aiming to move ahead with the project.
The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications (SWIFT) has successfully concluded the pilot stage of its CBDC testing project, where it tried to link various central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). This was revealed in an official statement released by SWIFT.
The CBDC testing phase lasted for 12 weeks, during which almost 5000 transactions between blockchain networks and fiat payment systems were executed by SWIFT. Several reputed banks and financial institutions took part in the project, which included a few industry leaders such as the Royal Bank of Canada, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, BNP Paribas, and HSBC, amongst others.
SWIFT explained the successful outcome of the CBDC testing project, saying, “Overall, the results of the sandbox testing found that Swift’s experimental interlinking solution can meet the needs of central and commercial banks for CBDCs interoperability, ensuring CBDCs can be successfully used in cross-border payments.”
SWIFT also indicated that most participants in the project agreed with each other regarding the functionality of CBDCs in the future. SWIFT has reportedly planned to execute the next stage of the CBDC testing project, where it would develop a beta payment system with ‘enhanced atomicity.’
The OMFIF Digital Monetary Institute also expects central bank digital currency usage by top banks to increase exponentially in the near future, with over 110 central banks worldwide testing CBDCs and their use cases. The global head of domestic and emerging payments at HSBC, Lewis Sun, has claimed the full potential of CBDCs in cross-border payments can be realized through interoperability.