CBDC Proof of Concept: The Bank of England Opens Bidding Process


The Bank of England (BoE) is seeking to develop a wallet that will hold central bank digital currency (CBDC). On December 9th, the BoE posted an application request for the development of “proof of concept” for a wallet on the UK government's Digital Marketplace.?
Project Rosalind is an ambitious initiative undertaken by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub in London, with the aim to develop Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). The development of these APIs will enable interoperability between CBDC and is a key step towards unlocking the potential of CBDCs.
To ensure a secure experience for all users, guidelines have been set in place to specify the required functionality that wallets must offer. These basic functionalities include a signup process, a way to update details, show balances, transactions, and notifications.
Wallets must also be able to load and unload CBDCs, request peer-to-peer payments, and pay businesses online. Key deliverables are mobile apps for iOS and Android, a wallet website, an example merchant website, and backend infrastructure to store user data.
Project goals include exploring the end-to-end user journey involves studying how customers engage with CBDC from start to finish. This process entails tracking customer behavior from onboarding all the way through their interactions with products and services offered by organizations utilizing CBDC. Understanding these behaviors helps to identify areas where improvements can be made throughout the customer experience cycle.
At the time of writing, there have been no applications for the five-month proof-of-concept project, which was set at $244,500 or 200,000 British pounds.?

Pavan A
CBW - External Analyst
INDIA