On July 8th, 2021, the Banque de France achieved its seventh successful trial of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in collaboration with the Banque Centrale de Tunisie. This endeavor was part of an experimental initiative initiated in March 2020 and involved a consortium led by Prosperus.
During this trial, a wire transfer occurred between two individuals situated in France and Tunisia. The transfer utilized commercial bank funds and was facilitated by the exchange of wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) between the Banque de France and the Banque Centrale de Tunisie. The transaction was executed through the Instaclear interbank transaction solution, which operates on Prosperus’ private distributed ledger. Both central banks securely exchanged CBDC tokens.
The consortium, spearheaded by Prosperus, included Bank Wormser Frères, la Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie, and its French subsidiary BIAT France. Additionally, Value Digital Services and Inuo Strategic Impact offered their support to Prosperus in this endeavor.
This experiment provided valuable insights into the potential of wholesale CBDCs for conducting cross-border retail transfers through collaborative efforts between central and commercial banks. This event marked the first instance of using wholesale CBDCs to facilitate retail transfers, setting the stage for future collaborative studies among central banks to enhance remittance processes.
Source: