Mercado Bitcoin, which is developing the digital real concept, announced a project collaboration with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF). The joint effort will focus on exploring options for using the Brazilian CBDC.
Representatives of the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) have announced their participation in one of the LIFT Challenge Real Digital development environment projects with Mercado Bitcoin, a Latin American exchange. The collaboration will explore options for Brazil’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), a pilot of which the Central Bank plans to launch in the second half of this year.
The LIFT Challenge Real Digital is an initiative carried out by the Central Bank of Brazil (Bacen) and the National Federation of Associations of Central Bank Servers (Fenasbac). The research is divided into nine projects, each aimed at identifying the fundamental characteristics of the digital real infrastructure and examining options for its use.
Along with the Mercado Bitcoin exchange and the newcomer Stellar Development Foundation, the Research and Development Center in Telecommunications (CPQD) and ClearSale, a company specializing in anti-fraud and payment protection, will participate in the development of the CBDC Brazil pilot project.
According to Mercado Bitcoin CEO Reinaldo Rabelo, choosing the SDF as the main testing tool for the Brazilian CBDC is no coincidence. Since Stellar is the preferred network for other CDBC projects, as well as the issuance of stablecoins and financial asset tokenization, “utilizing the Stellar network will allow them to deliver a complete case for evaluation by the Central Bank,” said Rabelo.
Meanwhile, Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, stressed that with its unique combination of speed, efficiency and security, “Stellar will give Mercado Bitcoin a strong foundation to develop a solution with the features that Bacen expects to see.”
Brazil announced plans to develop the CBDC late last year, assuring that the launch of the financial instrument was planned for 2024. In April this year, the President of Bacen said that the pilot project of the digital real would be launched in the second half of 2022.
