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One of the EU's largest CBDC tests took place today by France. The Central Bank of France carried out around 500 transactions using a blockchain technology system developed by New York-based tech corporation International Business Machines (IBM).
The experiment was led by a Belgian financial services company Euroclear, which is specialized in the settlement of securities transactions. It aimed to test the performance of a CBDC in everyday transactions; bond issuance, agreement repurchase, deal redemption, and more.
During the test, the Banque de France together with the largest financial market participants including BNP Paribas, Crédit Agricole CIB, HSBC, Societe Generale, and others, executed bond transactions as part of a 10-month pilot.
Concluding the results, Euroclear mentioned that the experiment showed that blockchain technology and CBDC can be effectively used to support the settlement of securities in central bank money as well as to run post-trade operations.
France started exploring CBDC in March 2020, launching an experimental program.