Italy and South Korea central banks agree on CBDC cooperation
The central banks of Italy and South Korea announced a memorandum of understanding in the development and deployment of CBDCs.
Banca d’Italia — Italy’s central bank — announced on Dec.
According to the Italian central bank, the memorandum of understanding includes the “mutual sharing of knowledge and information” when it comes to information and communication technology (ICT) issues.
Specifically, it mentions ICT issues related to real-time settlement systems and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The announcement said the meeting was attended by the general manager of the Banca d’Italia, Luigi Federico Signorini, who signed off on the agreement.
Related: UK House of Commons recommends further CBDC tests on viability, risks
Throughout the last year, both countries have been exploring CBDCs, though with different approaches.
In Italy, the central bank has mainly been focusing on interoperability in its solutions for settling distributed ledger technology (DLT)-based transactions via hash-linked contracts rather than a wholesale CBDC approach, as is the case with other European countries.
Meanwhile, South Korea started piloting its CBDC infrastructure technology in October.
