Get ready for a new acronym connected to central bank digital currencies.
It’s called the m-CBDC or Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency bridge.
The first attempt at an m-CBDC of its kind is a collaboration by agencies in Hong Kong, Thailand, the UAE and China in trying to create a CBDC for real-time cross-border transactions.
While you’re at it, stow away this other piece of jargon – the current efforts are based on a past project called Inthanon-LionRock embarked on by the Bank of Thailand (often known as the BOT) with other stakeholders.
Borrowing some terminology from the greater non-tech business world, proponents see Inthanon-LionRockand successive innovations as addressing “pain points” in decentralized finance and how it is applied to enterprise.
“These (pain points) include cost inefficiencies and the complex regulation which accompanies moving money from one country to another,” writes Greg Thomson at Cointelegraph in coverage today.
As a groundbreaking disruptor, the project also uses peer-to-peer technology, which is commonly seen as a benchmark for new network and system modeling.
“Building on pain points and business cases, the novel cross-border model is designed and developed as a PoC,” Deputy Governor of the BOT Mathee Supapongse explains in a press release statement. “The model offers a cross-border corridor network where participants can transfer funds instantaneously on a peer-to-peer basis and in an atomic PvP manner. The design and key findings of the project have added new dimensions to central bank communities’ studies on cross-border funds transfer area.”
All of this comes as nations around the world each try to figure out how to involve (or not involve) crypto in their national economies. Some have tried for a ban – others have tried to erect comprehensive, detailed regulation. Some have embraced the idea of entrepreneurial free market crypto trading and derivative trading more than others, for different reasons. In this context, having a regional or international CBDC seems like a winning step to take. Will others follow?
