Bank of Thailand to create digital currency based on R3’s Corda platform

The Bank of Thailand has revealed plans to develop a proof-of-concept prototype digital currency using R3’s open source platform, Corda.

The central bank is designing a wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), which can be used for wholesale funds transfers, in partnership with eight other Asian banks. The project, called Inthanon, aims to enhance the efficiency of Thailand’s financial market infrastructure.

“This is in line with similar projects embarked upon by other central banks such as the Bank of Canada, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Monetary Authority of Singapore,” the Bank of Thailand says.

Phase one

The prototype will be built on Corda, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform developed by R3.

Phase one of Project Inthanon, expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2019, will involve the participating banks designing, developing and testing the proof-of-concept prototype. Key payment functionalities such as a liquidity saving mechanism and risk management will also be developed and tested.

Once the project summary is published, the participants aim to further develop the capabilities of the prototype for broader functions, including third party fund transfers and cross-border fund transfers.

In addition to Project Inthanon, the Bank of Thailand is conducting a DLT proof-of-concept for a scripless government savings bond.