A year after issuing a call for collaboration on central bank digital currency (CBDC) tests, Spain’s Banco de España has now selected its partners. The announcement, made on January 3, identified Cecabank, Abanca, and Adhara Blockchain as the chosen collaborators among 24 applicants.
Over the next six months, a pilot will be conducted focusing on the simulation of interbank payments using a tokenized wholesale CBDC. This will include processing and settlement activities, as well as the exchange of multiple wholesale CBDCs issued by different central banks.
Additionally, a segment of the experiment will utilise the wholesale CBDC for settling simulated tokenized bonds. This part of the project will be conducted in conjunction with the Cecabank-Abanca consortium. While Cecabank and Abanca are based in Spain, Adhara Blockchain operates out of the United Kingdom.
This initiative by the Bank of Spain is noteworthy for its independence from the broader digital euro project, which aims to encompass all eurozone economies. Concurrently, the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation is moving ahead of schedule to implement the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, planning to do so six months before the mandated deadline.
