Under the challenge, FinTech companies, financial institutions and solution providers around the world are invited to submit proposals on retail CBDC solutions aimed at enhancing payment efficiencies and promote financial inclusion.
The proposed solutions should address problem statements outlined under the challenge, which are centred on CBDC instrument, distribution and infrastructure.
Applicants are invited to submit their proposals by July 23. Finalists will pitch their solutions to a global audience on Demo Day to be held at this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival.
Up to three winners will be selected, with each receiving $50,000 in prize money.
The Global CBDC Challenge will be supported by Amazon Web Services, Mastercard, Partior, R3 and open source software foundations, Hyperledger and the Mojaloop Foundation, and managed by the API Exchange (APIX) and Tribe Accelerator.
Up to 15 finalists will be selected to receive mentorship from industry experts and be given access to the APIX Digital Currency Sandbox for rapid prototyping of digital currency solutions.
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The Sandbox will offer a comprehensive test and development platform that includes core-banking APIs from APIX, payment APIs from Mojaloop Foundation, digital currency APIs from Mastercard, Partior and R3, and more than 100 APIs provided via the APIX marketplace.
“Central banks worldwide are actively exploring issuance of digital currencies, and are confronted with a wide range of policy and technology challenges. Through the Global CBDC Challenge, MAS hopes to encourage innovator communities worldwide to develop and showcase solutions that can maximise the potential of CBDC to deliver efficiencies to payment services, improve financial inclusion, consistent with central banks’ core mandate of monetary stability,” says Sopnendu Mohanty, chief FinTech officer of MAS.
Photo: Bloomberg
