France has adopted digital assets and blockchain technology in a sequence of bond transactions, marking the most significant trial in a major established market.
- An alliance of France’s biggest financial market participants used a digital currency provided by the Banque de France as part of the 10-month experiment in the nation’s debt market.
- The trial was led by the securities depository Euroclear and comprised many of France’s largest banks, the French public debt office, and the central bank, and adopted a system designed by US-based IBM.
- The testing program was a part of an initiative commissioned by the Banque de France in March last year to assess how central bank-issued digital currencies would exchange and settle when they had turned into tokens.
- The pilot comes as global regulators urge central banks to act as crypto-assets continue to grow this year.
Policymakers are concerned that private sector programs around cryptocurrency issuance could lead to central banks losing the influence of monetary policy.
BTC USD up +0.35%, EUR USD up +0.42%Source: FT
