The Bank of England has announced that it is looking for a “proof of concept” wallet that can store a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). Released at the end of last week, the Bank of England (BOE) released a call for applications on the country’s a Digital Marketplace. The Marketplace is a platform that allows governments to hire people to work on digital initiatives.
A proof of concept wallet for the BOE
According to the BOE’s listing, it is looking for a proof of concept wallet that would be able to offer users the fundamental features including a signup process, a way to update details, and a way to show balances and transactions, among other requirements like displaying notifications.
The requirements for the wallet also include the ability to show that it can be loaded with a CBDC and that users can withdraw their funds. Additionally, it should be able to request peer-to-peer payments via an account ID or QR code as well as to pay for goods and services online.
The wallet should be made to be available for both iOS and Android as well as a wallet website, an example merchant website, and the back-end infrastructure to support the wallet website and apps while also preserving user data and transaction history are the project’s key objectives.
According to the post, the aim of the wallet and the initiative overall is to look into the functional end-to-end user journey that a CBDC would offer. Â This would explore how the CBDC product would be more tangible for both internal and external shareholders.
According to the bank, no work has been done yet on a sample wallet and the bank is not going to develop the user wallet itself or in-house.