Enhanced Usage of CBDC by Working on APIs in Project Rosalind

The two main banks Bank for International Settlements (BIS) and Bank of England have developed 33 application programming interfaces (API) to test more than 30 central bank digital currency (CBDC) use cases, including offline payments.

The purpose of the Rosalind project is to explore how APIs can be used to support various forms of payments, their functionality, adoption, and innovations in CBDC. It is done by developing prototypes for an API layer in a two-tier retail central bank digital currency model. API software permits two or more computers to communicate and share data with one another.

API’s Designed to Support Safe and Secure Payments

Francesca Hopwood Road, the head of BIS Innovation Hub London Centre, said that under this project the APIs are designed to support safe and secure payments through various use cases in retail CBDC.

The Bank of England is working on the API for a potential digital pound. This API will facilitate the accessible ledger for private sectors. It will also allow the facility of automated payments.

Hopwood Road also added that there is no dearth of ways people or markets can interact with us. It clearly means the varied forms of payment transactions are in a plan to be implemented. This may include offline, online, and in-store payments, payments through QR codes, smartphones, smart cards, and more.

API Designed to Facilitate CBDC Wholesale and Retail Payments

Hopwood also stated that it is found that API layers can work with different ledgers. They are also working on one more use case which is a child-parent wallet. They are analyzing how parents can allocate money to children for responsible spending and how it should be applicable to different locations and varied other things.

Hopwood further stated that at the innovation hub, they have worked on a variety of experiments enhancing the payment options in wholesale and retail CBDC. They are also exploring other areas such as cross-border payments, and offline payments, while working on the security of payments as well.

BIS, in April, released a project named Meridian. It is in collaboration with the Bank of England. This project successfully tested the use cases of inter-banking transactions using distributed ledger technology (DLT).

The blockchain firm Quant announced its collaboration with BIS and the Bank of England on the project Rosalind. Gilbert Verdian, Founder and CEO of Quant stated numerous possibilities for commercial banks for the usage of this project. As this project is loaded with many new innovations, the variety of use cases will definitely increase.

The firm will assist with the interchange of central bank ledgers, thus enhancing interoperability and also facilitating secure smart contracts. They will provide a blockchain on which the infrastructure platform will work. The other partner, the digital solution platform UST will facilitate building the frontend Rosalind API layer.

The main aim of the project is an active collaboration of the private and public sectors to enhance the use cases of CBDC, as stated by the head of BIS Innovation Hub London Centre.

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing