ConsenSys partners with Societe Generale to develop CBDC tests

ConsenSys will provide technology and expertise as part of an ongoing joint project with the French central bank

ConsenSys  announced today that they had been selected to provide technology and expertise to Societe General – Forge as part of their ongoing Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) tests. ConsenSys will be focusing on issuing and managing the CBDC, as well as providing cross-ledger interoperability and delivery versus payment.

ConsenSys is well known for its work with Ethereum, developing products such as Quorum and MetaMask, but Societe General – Forge announced in September that they had chosen the Tezos blockchain for their CBDC experiments.

However, ConsenSys does have form when it comes to working with financial institutions – they have already collaborated with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the South African Reserve Bank to explore the use of distributed ledger technology as a banking solution.

Global Head of Enterprise Solutions at ConsenSys, Ken Timsit, commented “We have high regard for the accomplishments of Societe Generale – Forge and are proud to be working with them. ConsenSys is committed to advances in the CBDC space and has assisted six central banks around the world on CBDC projects.”

Societe Generale – Forge is a subsidiary of the European investment bank Societe Generale that provides issuers and investors with services for issuing and managing digital-native financial products registered on the blockchain.

The french bank was one of eight organisations, along with Accenture and HSBC, to be selected by the Banque de France to participate in CBDC trials. They plan to build on their recent achievements, such as issuing the first covered bond as a security token on a public blockchain in 2019 and issuing a €40 million ($47 million) bond that was settled in a CBDC earlier this year.

Jean-Marc Stenger, CEO of Societe Generale – Forge, said “We are pleased to partner with ConsenSys, a company who is a key player in the development of distributed ledger technology globally and offers many of the infrastructure and development tools used by the blockchain community.”

The European Central Bank said at the start of this month that it ought to be prepared to issue a digital euro, and with this latest announcement, France is looking ever more likely to be able to actually deliver it.