U.S. banks will test blockchain platform concept for digital dollar

In the press there was a report about the launch of a pilot project of a blockchain platform for digital money. The project will be developed by a group of U.S. banks, and it will be called

Regulated Liability Network (RLN).

Thus, BNY Mellon, Citi, HSBC, Mastercard, PNC Bank, TD Bank, Truist, US Bank, Wells Fargo, as well as the Innovation Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York are among the test participants.

“During the 12-week proof-of-concept period, a version of the RLN design that operates exclusively in U.S. dollars will be tested. Commercial banks emit simulated digital money or “tokens” which represent their customers’ deposits and settlement with simulated central bank reserves on a joint multiplatform,” the statement said.

The project works in full compliance with the existing legal and regulatory framework, in particular, all the necessary anti-money laundering measures and requirements for the processing of deposit payments are observed. Meanwhile, the concept does not exclude expansion towards multi-currency transactions and other digital assets.

The results will be published after the pilot testing is completed.

“This project will be conducted in a test environment and use only simulated data. It […] is not intended to signal that the Federal Reserve System [Fed] will make any unavoidable decisions about the appropriateness of issuing retail or wholesale CBDCs,” the test participants pointed out.

Meanwhile, after the publication of the news, former NSA and CIA employee Edward Snowden left a controversial comment: “It begins”. Recall that he previously criticized digital currencies of central banks.