Bank Of Spain Reveals Collaborators For Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Testing Phase

A year after issuing an open call for collaborators to join central bank digital currency (CBDC) tests, Banco de España, the central bank of Spain, has officially selected its partners.

In a resolution published on Jan 3, the central bank revealed its collaboration with Cecabank, Abanca, and Adhara Blockchain.

Over the next six months, the wholesale CBDC pilot will be conducted, focusing on simulating the processing and settlement of interbank payments. This will involve the use of a singular tokenized wholesale CBDC, as well as the exchange of multiple wholesale CBDCs issued by various central banks.

The Cecabank-Abanca consortium is conducting another part of the experiment, utilizing the wholesale CBDC to settle a simulated tokenized bond.

The central bank has selected three companies from the 24 applications received in the past year. While Cecabank and Abanca are Spanish entities, Adhara Blockchain, one of the chosen companies, has its headquarters in the United Kingdom.

Spanish CBDC Initiative Breaks from Digital Euro Project

Moreover, the Spanish CBDC initiative is noteworthy for its distinctiveness, explicitly declaring independence from the broader digital euro project designed to encompass all economies within the eurozone if realized. The initiative stands out for its autonomous approach.

Concurrently, the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has disclosed its intention to adopt the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation six months before the stipulated deadline.

In Oct, the Bank of Spain released a document elucidating the characteristics and potential applications of the digital euro.

There needs to be more notable interest among Spaniards in adopting the digital euro. According to a survey conducted in Oct, 65% of respondents expressed their unwillingness to integrate the pan-European Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) into their standard payment methods.

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