The applicants for the $244,000 contract asked more than 70 questions, which the Bank of England answered.
Companies that applied for the $244,000 contract to create a proof-of-concept (PoC) wallet for the central bank digital currency (CBDC) for the Bank of England (BOE) provided questions about the project. The central bank responded by publishing its responses to more than 70 questions.
The BOE opened applications on December 9 and invited suppliers to submit applications. Before December 25, roughly twenty businesses submitted their applications and questions. Following this, the BOE provided its responses to the competing providers’ questions with the intention of providing insights into the project.
The BOE proposes developing a merchant website, a mobile wallet application, and a back-end server for a core ledger. The bank clarified that it will only use the Proof of Concept to learn more and has not yet committed to creating a sample wallet. The BOE recorded:
“We’re using this PoC to deepen our knowledge and understanding of how CBDC products could possibly interact with each other.”
28 applications were initially submitted, but eight suppliers declined to proceed beyond the question stage. Nine small and medium-sized businesses and 11 large businesses submitted applications. On January 31, the selected applicant will receive the contract, as stated by the BOE.
In a livestreamed event on November 23, BOE officials Andrew Bailey and Sir Jon Cunliffe responded to lawmakers’ inquiries. The officials appeared to view CBDCs as a revolution for the future of money when discussing digital currencies. Sir Cunliffe stated that he anticipates a “driven by technology” revolution in the functionality of money.
In the meantime, a senior executive from the industry recently spoke with Disclose News to discuss how crypto can benefit CBDCs and vice versa. The deputy CEO of crypto platform INX, Itai Avneri, stated that CBDCs and regulated crypto could work well together.