Bank of Canada and MIT to Work on Joint CBDC Collaboration

The Bank of Canada (BoC) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have announced on Wednesday that both parties have reached an agreement to collaborate in a twelve-month research project on central bank digital currency (CBDC).

According to the press release, the central bank will work with the MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative team to explore how advanced technologies could impact the potential design of a CBDC, such an exploration, which will help the BoC’s efforts on the matter.

“The project forms part of the Bank’s wider research and development agenda on digital currencies and fintech. It will focus on exploring and experimenting with potential technology approaches to determine how a CBDC could work. No decision has been made on whether to introduce a CBDC in Canada,” the Bank of Canada noted.

No major details were provided as of press time, although the BoC specified that it would provide an update on the project’s findings and outcomes at the end of the project period.

The Digital Currency Initiative Background

About the MIT Digital Currency Initiative, the project’s website details it as follows: “There is still a great deal of fundamental research and development needed before the technology can deliver on these promises, and academia has a vital role to play in that endeavor. Venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and a new breed of crypto investor have collectively invested billions in blockchain-based startups and so-called ICOs, at the same time that Wall Street banks, marquee technology companies and government and international agencies have rushed to establish blockchain research labs. Yet leading experts in cryptography and economics are only now starting to weigh in on questions around the security of this technology and its broader impact on the economy. That’s why the MIT Media Lab launched the MIT Digital Currency Initiative.”

If plans go ahead as expected, new updates on the project will come in March 2023.