Norges Bank to Test Technical Solutions for CBDC

Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, announced that it will test various technical solutions for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) over the next two years.

The Norwegian central bank said that many central banks are in the process of carrying out similar research, and several are already under way with technical testing. At the same time, payment technologies have evolved at a rapid pace, and cash usage has fallen further. The share of cash payments in Norway is now probably the lowest in the world.

According to the official announcement, Norges Bank's research into CBDCs has run for a good four years. A new element moving ahead will be technical testing combined with further analysis of the need for and the implications of introducing a CBDC. One of the aims of technical testing is to find a preferred solution if it becomes relevant to introduce a CBDC in Norway. Any introduction of a CBDC will still lie some time in the future.

"Central bank cash provides the payment system with a number of important attributes that may be relevant to retain and develop further by issuing a CBDC. Additional knowledge is necessary for us to be able to decide whether issuing a CBDC is appropriate", says Governor Øystein Olsen.

Fazzaco earlier reported that the Bank for International Settlements' Innovation Hub (BISIH) Swiss Centre, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the financial infrastructure operator SIX announced the successful completion of a joint proof-of-concept experiment that integrates tokenised digital assets and central bank money​.