The Bank of England published a tender for the development of a sample wallet for a CBDC. The work will last for five to six months.
The Bank of England’s (BoE) application to develop software for the central bank digital currency (CBDC) was published on the Digital Marketplace website of the Government Digital Service. The project budget is £200,000 with a maximum implementation period of six months.
The project involves building a working prototype with a minimum set of functions, including:
- sign-up process and wallet management;
- balance display and updates of corresponding information, including in an offline mode;
- execution of peer-to-peer payments by means of an account identifier or a QR code;
- P2B payments: invoicing and online payments.
A set of basic requirements is listed in the application, which must be fulfilled in an iOS and Android app. Developers will also have to build a website for the wallet, an infrastructure for using the wallet on online platforms, a server part for processing data, storing user information and transaction history, and providing maintenance for all components.
The project aims to “explore the end-to-end user journey.” BoE representatives intend to clarify the functional requirements for the future CBDC and lay the foundation for further digital currency research, including a joint experiment with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) as part of Project Rosalind.
Recall that the Bank of England earlier announced plans to launch the CBDC by 2030. In 2022, BoE officials also began developing legislation to regulate the crypto market. In particular, measures have already been taken to legalize the use of stablecoins in Great Britain.
