• The digital GEL of Georgia is expected to be the first Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) that uses the infrastructure of the existing blockchains including from Ripple-backed XRPL, and MetaMUI blockchain that enables even offline services that are critical in CBDC mainstream adoption.
• Ripple has demonstrated its ability to deliver the needed infrastructure for seamless digital payments with complex smart contracts and in an environmentally friendly manner.

The National Bank of Georgia, (NBG) has been working on digitizing the country’s fiat currency, Lari (GEL), through collaboration with reputable blockchain companies that have demonstrated the ability to handle huge volumes with utmost security.

Late last month, the National Bank of Georgia shortlisted nine fintech companies that have demonstrated sufficient technology potential to deliver the digital GEL including Bitt Inc., Broxus Holding Ltd., Augentic GmbH, Currency Network Ltd., DCM Corp Ltd., eCurrency Mint Inc., FARI Solutions Ltd., Ripple Labs Inc., and Sovereign Wallet Ltd.

The NBG intends to democratize its CBDC project in a bid to attract more investors and users to the Eastern Europe country. Meanwhile, the NBG intends to undertake several stages of the digital GEL testing phase, to ensure the digital currency competes with other similar projects like the Chinee yuan, Nigerian NAIRA, and Jamaican dollar.

NBG Dares to Make Digital GEL a Better Option

During the initial announcement, NBG announced that it would identify a single technology partner to move to the pilot stage to test the practical use cases for its CBDC platform. As a result, Sovereign Wallet, a South Korean Blockchain company that is headquartered in Singapore, was selected to steer forward the digital GEL in the next testing stage. According to the announcement shared with media outlets, the NBG selected the Sovereign Wallet along with eight other companies to ensure a successful testing phase.

“MetaMUI is a perfect fit for NBG’s Digital GEL CBDC project. We offer the most advanced features of CBDC such as direct peer-to-peer transactions of swapping digital assets with digital currency. We can even do this in offline settings,” Phantom Seokgu Yun, CEO of Sovereign Wallet, who leads the MetaMUI Blockchain, noted.

The digital GEL intends to offer various features of modern technology including tokenization of assets and the tokenization of payments that is expected to help global enterprises grow their operations sustainably. Interestingly, while many other central banks are developing their blockchain infrastructure, the NBG has opted to work with crypto-focused companies amid the European Union’s sweeping regulatory frameworks that are expected to be implemented in the coming few years.

Bigger Picture

The adoption of digital currencies in the name of CBDCs is expected to increase surveillance as governments face more challenges with money laundering and terrorism issues. Despite the advantages presented by the CBDCs, a significant number of United States regulators and presidential aspirants have spoken against the introduction of digital dollars to ensure privacy. Nonetheless, NBG was keen to ensure that the digital GEL is used by people seeking to on and off-ramp the crypto market.

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