Spain’s Central Bank Opens Call for Proposals for a Wholesale CBDC Project

The Bank of Spain plans to start a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) project and on Monday opened a call for proposals from financial institutions and technology solution providers.

The program seeks to simulate the funds movement operations of a wholesale CBDC, the bank said in an official statement, adding that it also seeks to experiment with the integration of a wholesale CBDC with the settlement of financial assets and to analyze the possible advantages and disadvantages of its introduction.

Interested parties will have until January 31, 2023 to submit their respective applications, the bank said. It added that the program for a wholesale CBDC is not related to the research work the European Union is doing on a retail CBDC, also known as digital euro.

In September, France’s central bank announced projects to achieve the benefits of CBDCs used at a wholesale level by banks and financial markets.

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