The BIS Innovation Hub has partnered with the central banks of Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa to develop two prototypes of a cross-border settlement platform with multiple CBDCs.
The Dunbar project was announced by partners in September 2021 and was led by the Singapore division of the BIS hub.
The results of the pilot have confirmed the fact that financial institutions can use digital currencies issued by participating banks for direct transactions with each other on a single platform. The solution can be used to reduce dependence on intermediaries and transaction processing costs.
The work has been organized in three main areas: the definition of functional requirements and design, as well as the parallel technical implementation of prototypes on two platforms – Corda and Partior.
Andrew McCormack, head of the BIS Innovation Hub in Singapore, has said:
“A common platform is the most efficient payment connectivity model, but it is also the most difficult to implement. The Dunbar project has demonstrated that the key issues of trust and shared control can be addressed through governance mechanisms enhanced by robust technological tools.”
