National Bank of Georgia Joins Forces with Basel Innovation Hub to Advance Digital Currency Initiatives
The National Bank of Georgia is embarking on a strategic collaboration with the Basel Innovation Hub (BISIH) to delve into the nascent realm of digital GEL, Georgia's official currency.
This partnership will facilitate Georgia's engagement in BISIH's transformative projects mBridge and Aurum, offering a platform for mutual exchange of technology, expertise, and insights.
Established in 2019, the Basel Innovation Hub aims to galvanize financial technology innovation by fostering synergies between global central banks. Their mission is twofold: first, to advance a cooperative ecosystem that catalyzes financial technology, and second, to facilitate dialogues and partnerships that lead to the development of groundbreaking solutions.
The mBridge initiative explores the feasibility of cross-border payments through a Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) platform. It allows participating central banks to mint digital currencies and execute transactions in a decentralized yet secure environment. This project is not merely theoretical but serves as a testing ground for the practical implementation of international digital currency transactions.
Concurrently, Project Aurum is an investigative venture into retail Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) and CBDC-anchored stablecoins. Designed with an unwavering focus on security and privacy, Aurum's technology prototypes aim to create intermediate architectures for CBDC implementation. Member banks of the Basel Innovation Hub gain privileged access to a comprehensive technical manual, alongside other essential resources, thus simplifying their in-house experimentation and accelerating the overall development of digital currency infrastructures.
The National Bank of Georgia’s involvement in these avant-garde projects signifies more than just participation; it represents an opportunity to glean insights from the digital currency advancements of other nations. Moreover, it will enable the bank to field-test its own Central Bank Digital Currency technology, benefitting from the plethora of resources and collaborative environments that the Basel Innovation Hub avails to central banks in their nascent stages of digital currency exploration.
In summary, this collaboration represents a strategic move for the National Bank of Georgia, placing it at the forefront of global digital currency innovation and ensuring its readiness for a rapidly evolving financial landscape.