According to a press release, the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) will join forces with major exchange platform Mercado Bitcoin. The partners will work on the nine cases of the Central Bank of Brazil (Bacen) LIFT Challenge.
The initiative was deployed in association with other Brazilian institutions. It’s aimed at exploring the launch and use cases of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
The Stellar Development Foundation will work with Mercado Bitcoin, ClearSale, and CPQD. These partners comprised a LIFT Challenge consortium.
According to the release, the Laboratory of Financial and Technological Innovations of the Real Digital Challenge (LIFT) Challenge operates as a collaborative environment to develop the Real Digital, Brazil’s CBDC.
The project will identify the technological feasibility, use cases, and infrastructure needed to launch the Real Digital. The initiative is also aimed at improving Brazil’s financial system by attracting market participants, banks, payment institutions, tech companies, and others.
These entities will be charged with developing products with the Real Digital as a foundation. Brazil’s Central Bank claims their CBDC will be deployed in the second half of 2022 with a first phase “piloted for a restricted audience”, the release claims.
Reinaldo Rabelo, CEO of Mercado Bitcoin, said the following about the initiative:
We are in a consortium of companies that have the structure and ambition to build robust solutions for the financial market through blockchain technology. Utilizing the Stellar network will allow us to deliver a complete case for evaluation by the Central Bank.
The SDF has been working with the Ukrainian government on its CBDC for several years. The non-profit organization and its partners were set on testing the CBDC’s programmable capabilities, but there has been a lack of updates on the project.
Why Mercado Bitcoin Chose Stellar As A Partner?
Similar to the Ukrainian CBDC, the Real Digital will be launched to advance innovation of payment and make the Brazilian financial system more open and inclusive. Denelle Dixon, CEO of the Stellar Development Foundation, claimed the cooperation with Mercado Bitcoin will contribute to the growth of the network.
She added:
Stellar’s network is prepared to support Mercado Bitcoin and the Central Bank of Brazil as they explore use cases for the Real Digital’s future. Stellar was designed for asset issuance, and its built-in compliance tools give Mercado Bitcoin a strong foundation to develop a solution with the features that Bacen expects to see.
Mercado Bitcoin selected the Stellar network for its capabilities and because they believe it is “excellent for implementing tokenization and payment projects”. The network is capable of processing fast and low-cost transactions, it allows financial institutions to implement their own KYC policies, it is deemed non “energy-intensive” and more.
At the time of writing, XLM’s price stands at $0.13 with sideways movement in the last 24-hours.
