Israel To Start Digital Shekel Challenge To Develop Payment Use Cases
Israel’s central bank is launching a Digital Shekel Challenge as part of its action plan for a possible issuance of the digital shekel.
The bank has built a prototype simulating the heart of the digital shekel system, allowing payment-service providers to access the system to provide advanced payment options to the general public.
The challenge will explore micropayments, split payments, and payments requiring multiparty signatures.
The Bank of Israel has not yet decided whether to issue a central bank digital currency (CBDC), but it has conducted a pilot test in 2021 and is monitoring scenarios, including whether stablecoins are widely used.
The challenge will kick off with an everything-you-wanted-to-ask webinar on June 6 and will go through a process of applications and presentations before culminating at the end of September when results will be discussed.
The challenge is inspired by the BIS Innovation Centre’s “Rosalind Project,” which looked at how application programming interface (API) functionalities could support a retail CBDC and facilitate safe and secure payments.
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