Thailand’s Central Bank To Use Blockchain For Interbank Settlements

Thailand’s central bank, the Bank of Thailand, has built a prototype of its blockchain solution that will help its 8 partner banks make interbank settlements more efficiently using a digital currency. Collaborating with IT firm Wipro and R3, the press release states that the involved parties had “developed a blockchain-based solution prototype to enable digital currency for interbank settlements for a consortium consisting of the Bank of Thailand and eight commercial banks in Thailand.”

The press release reads,

Project lnthanon is an initiative led by the Bank of Thailand, in partnership with eight participating banks in a collaborative project that will use blockchain technology to build a proof-of-concept prototype which will enable domestic fund transfers within the country’s interbanking system by issuing CBDC tokens . The project seeks to enhance the technological preparedness of Thailand’s financial sector for embracing new technologies and digitalisation.

Thailand has been progressive with the application of blockchain technology, and developing countries where documentation can be onerous – leading to a lack of financial access – are the ideal regions for hte application of blockchain technology.

David E. Rutter, CEO of R3, was pleased with the project and its potential,

Blockchain development is in a truly exciting phase given how more and more financial institutions are recognizing its potential to enable national digital currencies or CBDCs. R3’s Corda was conceptualised to support CBDCs, which made it a perfect fit for Project lnthanon. Both Wipro’s expertise in blockchain technology and understanding of the financial sector as well as excellent advisory and implementation services have played an integral role in co-developing the solution prototype.

The World Economic Forum (WEF) recently released a report that showed that over 40 central banks across the world were considering or conducting heavy research into the blockchain technology and/or central bank digital currencies (CBDC).