Three Big Banks Complete Project Jura, Digital Currency Innovation From The European Union

The European Union digital currency is in the final stages of completion. (photo credit: pixabay)

JAKARTA – On Wednesday, December 8, Banque de France (BdF), BIS Innovation Hub (BISIH) and Swiss National Bank (SNB) announced the successful trial of a wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC), entitled Project Jura.

As reported by Cointelegraph, the Project aims to investigate cross-border settlements with the euro and Swiss franc wCBDC. The project was also launched on a third-party distributed ledger technology platform.

The experimental technology explored in Project Jura consists of a decentralized network of peer-to-peer computer nodes (Corda) to validate transactions while ensuring that all legal, regulatory and business rules of the governing country are met.

Then, there is the tokenization of fiat currencies mentioned above and the European Negotiable Commercial Paper, short-term debt instruments (one year or less) denominated in euros. Lastly, Project Jura looks at an infrastructure network that enables real-time gross transaction settlement, bond digitization, and digital asset listing.

Although the trial was successful, it does not guarantee the issuance of a wCBDC by Swiss, French or European Union authorities. The report concluded that "wCBDC could be entered into new settlement arrangements that could change the structure and functioning of capital markets, money markets, and foreign exchange markets," saying that:

"Expanding the use of central bank money through wider access or increased cross-border settlement could catalyze this change, as could deeper integration of the currency with other digital assets and securities."