The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) will test the central bank digital currency (CBDC) in a limited environment with the participation of nine technology companies, one of which will subsequently be selected as the main partner in all subsequent stages of the digital GEL (DGEL) development.
The National Bank of Georgia has announced the launch of the CBDC pilot project, which involves testing the technological capabilities and potential applications of the digital GEL with the participation of third-party companies.
Thus, the CBDC will be tested with a set of use cases proposed by companies that demonstrate sufficient technology capability, maturity, competence, and relevant experience. Participants of the Georgian CBDC pilot study include:
- Ripple Labs, Inc;
- eCurrency Mint Inc;
- Currency Network Ltd;
- Sovereign Wallet Co., Ltd;
- DCM Corp Limited;
- Bitt Inc;
- AUGENTIC GmbH;
- Broxus Holdings Ltd;
- FARI Solutions Ltd.
According to NGB officials, at this stage, the bank has no plans to introduce additional innovations to the existing structure but will consider different tech solutions the selected firms can offer for the digital GEL project. At the end of this phase, the NGB will choose one company to be the sole technical partner to develop practical scenarios for CBDC usage and create a platform for DGEL.
In February this year, the NGB published a document reviewing the infrastructure of the future CBDC. According to the government’s plans, the digital GEL will have a programmable backbone that supports asset tokenization and use third-party wallet software for DGEL.
In June, Varlam Ebanoidze, Head of FinTech at NGB, said that scenarios for using Georgia’s CBDC include providing agricultural insurance and the automation of real estate transactions. He also added that DGEL is planned to be developed initially compatible with the digital euro.
Due to the Georgian government’s loyal attitude to digital technologies, cryptocurrencies are highly popular in the country. Local Binance users have been able to buy crypto for fiat via Visa and Mastercard and use digital assets to pay for goods and services via POS terminals.
