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- Tezos’ Nomadic Labs has been selected by Société Générale-Forge for its experiment to research a digital euro.
- The experiments focus on a digital central bank currency for interbank settlement traffic.
Société Générale-Forge, a technology start-up of the French investment bank Société Générale-Forge, has selected the Tezos blockchain for its experiment on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The company was commissioned by the French central bank, the Banque de France, to develop a digital euro.
The French central bank had previously launched a program to test the implementation of a CDBC for interbank settlement traffic. Société Générale Forge was one of eight companies invited by the central bank. In the announcement at the time, the French central bank also indicated that it would work closely with the eight applicants in the coming months to advance the experiments.
Tezos selected for digital euro experiment
The Société Générale-Forge experiment aims to “study the feasibility of digital processing and delivery of financial securities using the central bank’s digital currency”, with a pool of technology providers and consultants to assist in the development. Nomadic Labs, which is one of the largest development companies in the Tezos ecosystem and is heavily involved in the development of the Tezos protocol, is one of these companies.
According to the announcement, Société Générale-Forge chose Tezos for several reasons: its on-chain governance, proof of stake consensus model and verified smart contracts. Nomadic Labs commented on their appointment to the digital euro project as follows:
The presence of Nomadic Labs and Tezos technology in this selection highlights the quality of Nomadic Labs’ research and development teams, and the strong technical fundamentals of the Tezos blockchain. Based in Paris, Nomadic Labs counts several years of experience working on the development of the Tezos blockchain, as well as promoting its adoption.
Michel Mauny, President of Nomadic Labs, also added
The Tezos project, strengthened by its technical capabilities, its adaptability, and its strong community, is already present in various projects, both in France and abroad. We are especially pleased to see this technology selected by Societe Generale-Forge, and to reaffirm, once again, that the quality and expertise of our engineering is rewarded.
Tezos + France = digital euro?
It is remarkable that this is not the first time Tezos has been discussed in government circles in France. For example, Thierry Bedoin, the CDO of the Bank of France, shared a tweet in March 2019 in which he mentioned that the French central bank had set up a private full node of Tezos.
In addition, the French police, specifically the Cybercrime Division (C3N), had announced in November 2019 that it was using the Tezos blockchain to record the legal costs incurred in the investigation. The use of Tezos by the French government institution was one of the first cases in which a European government used a public blockchain.
Whether and what role Tezos will play in the development of a digital euro remains to be seen, however. As a matter of fact, according to the governor of the French central bank, François Villeroy de Galha, France wants to play a leading role in the development. Besides France, other European countries such as Italy, Lithuania, which uses a mixed private/public blockchain (NEM), the Netherlands and the European Central Bank are also currently working on the creation of a CDBC for Europe.
