The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has announced the successful completion of Project Mariana, a groundbreaking initiative in collaboration with the central banks of France, Switzerland, and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The project’s primary objective was to explore the feasibility of cross-border trading using wholesale central bank digital currencies (wCBDCs), marking a significant step forward in the world of digital finance.
Project Mariana was jointly conducted by three BIS Innovation Hub centers, including those in Switzerland, Singapore, and the Eurosystem. It also involved the active participation of the Banque de France and the Swiss National Bank. The project’s proof of concept leveraged decentralized finance (DeFi) technology on a public blockchain, employing hypothetical wCBDCs for the euro, Singapore dollar, and Swiss franc.
One of the project’s key achievements was the establishment of a common token standard on a public blockchain, enabling seamless exchange and interoperability of wCBDCs across various local payment and settlement systems maintained by participant central banks.
Cecilia Skingsley, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub, emphasized that Project Mariana successfully demonstrated the possibility of exchanging wholesale CBDCs across borders using innovative concepts like automated market makers (AMM). The use of smart contracts allowed central banks to manage their wCBDCs without direct control over the underlying platform.
Project Mariana’s incorporation of DeFi elements, particularly automated market makers, has the potential to lay the foundation for a new generation of financial market infrastructures. This achievement aligns with the BIS’s ongoing efforts to promote cross-border CBDCs, with several pilot tests being conducted worldwide to explore the possibilities of digital finance.
