• Mercado Bitcoin announced successful completion of pilot tests utilizing the Stellar public blockchain for a tokenized version of Brazil’s CBDC, Digital Real.
• These tests included traceability, KYC and antifraud measures processed by Clearsale and CPQD.
• The Central Bank of Brazil is aiming to have a comprehensive development path for the digital real currency ready by December 2023.
Pilot Test For Brazil’s CBDC ‘Digital Real’ Successfully Completed
Mercado Bitcoin recently announced that it has successfully completed a series of pilot tests for analyzing the interoperability of tokenized versions of the central bank-issued digital currency, known as “Digital Real,” in Brazil. The Stellar public blockchain was used for these experiments.
Processes Used For Tokenization
The processes used to tokenize this currency were taken from a digital decentralized identity system and included traceability, KYC (Know Your Customer), and anti-fraud measures. In addition, they had to be compatible with Mercado Bitcoin Pay in order to process transactions. Clearsale and CPQD were enlisted to handle digital identification duties while fraud protection operations were also conducted.
LIFT Challenge
This test was part of the larger Laboratory of Financial and Technological Innovations (LIFT) challenge issued in 2022, which saw nine organizations being chosen by the Central Bank of Brazil to undertake these tests. President Roberto Campos Neto said on February 14 that a thorough pilot test will be carried out as soon as feasible in order to give a comprehensive development path for the central bank digital currency by December 2023 before his term ends.
Results From Tests
The results from this test validate their hypothesis that public networks such as the Stellar blockchain can act as proxies for the functioning of Digital Real currency. This successful completion is only one step among many initiatives being taken in order evaluate its behavior under various settings prior its release date later this year.
Conclusion
Overall, these pilot tests signify progress towards an official release date for Digital Real later this year before President Campos Neto’s term ends. With ongoing experiments being conducted on the interoperatibility with other systems such as Clearsale and CPQD, it appears Brazil is well on its way towards releasing its own CBDC soon enough!