Thai Central Bank Builds Blockchain Solution for Digital Currency Project

[Mercury]

The Bank of Thailand, the country’s central bank, has moved ahead with its digital currency project by building a blockchain-based prototype solution.

The solution will enable the central bank to settle interbank transactions using a digital currency among its eight commercial bank partners. BoT’s tech partner Wipro announced the news on Tuesday.

They built the prototype as part of the central bank’s digital currency project, called lnthanon. Wipro and blockchain enterprise software firm R3 on Corda platform provided development services.

The solution will enable decentralized interbank real-time gross settlement (RTGS) using a wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) for faster payments, Wipro said, adding:

“The prototype has successfully demonstrated that DLT [distributed ledger technology] can significantly enhance payment efficiency by enabling 24/7 interbank settlements.”

The BoT first revealed the project in June, seeking to create its own blockchain-based cryptocurrency to make interbank transactions both faster and cheaper.

In August, the central bank said that the ultimate goal of the effort is to also “enhance efficiency of the Thai financial market infrastructure.”

The project’s banking partners include Bangkok Bank Public, Krung Thai, Siam Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank (Thailand) and HSBC, among others.

The BoT also revealed that it is working on another DLT proof-of-concept designed to boost the efficiency of government bond sales.

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