Central Bank of France published the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) test results. The experiment took place on December 17. During it, the first time performed CBDC transaction had success. The bank used a private blockchain of the French fund administration platform called IZNES. Blockchain technology was used as it allows immediate settlements.
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The team developing IZNES is SETL, a blockchain-focused technology company, which also provided the CBDC stablecoin. During the trial, developers used IZNES as a means of following fund unit transfers. Experimenters used smart contracts to enable the issuance and control over the flow of the digital euro tokens. Transactions surged over €2 million.
As the popularity of cryptocurrencies is rising, central banks all over the world are working on creating their own cryptocurrencies. Some of them are planning a launch already. However, CBDCs are not decentralized and are controlled by the country's regulatory authority.
In March 2020 Bank of France announced planning to perform a series of wholesale CBDC trials with eight organizations, among them HSBC, Euroclear, and Iznes. Bank of France is going to perform other experiments and share the results around the middle of 2021.