Jurgilas further said that, in order for the Eurozone to remain competitive in business and secure from global technology-related threats, the European payment system must keep up with new and groundbreaking technologies and not be “based on solutions fo the past.
The Bank of Lithuania said that central banks’ “parental controls” are obsolete when it comes to crypto assets, but that should not prevent them from entering the space in order to understand it.
In an analysis dedicated to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) released on Dec. 10, the Bank of Lithuania argued that banks should participate in the digital asset space in order to gain experience with the rapidly developing asset class.
Bank board member Marius Jurgilas said in an accompanying statement:
“It is fascinating to follow how fast the area of digital assets and currencies is evolving. It is not prudent to be a casual observer, as this puts regulators and supervisors in the anxious position of a parent who is disgruntled to see that his ‘parental controls’ are completely out of date. The preferred approach is to face the risks and gain hands-on experience in a controlled environment.”
A central bank with its own blockchain
The bank states that the future of CBDC’s is tied to the development of technologies such as blockchain, and notes that it is both monitoring and facilitating progress on this front. To introduce public-service innovation and help local and international companies carry out blockchain research, the bank is developing LBChain, its own blockchain.
As Cointelegraph reported in October, the central bank has selected technology behemoth IBM and IT services firm Tieto as the finalists contending to develop its blockchain platform.
Additionally, the Bank of Lithuania aims to gain practical experience in releasing digital assets as it issues the blockchain-based collector coin “LBCOIN” next year. As Cointelegraph previously reported, the central bank aims to release 24,000 tokens to the public in the spring of 2020.
The bank said that the collector coins will be “a controlled experiment that can be considered an in vitro test of multiple practical aspects relevant to the broader CBDC discussion.”
Central banks study CBDCs as crypto gains traction
The attention and resources devoted by banks to studying and developing CBDCs has seen a sharp increase since Facebook’s Libra announcement. The recent speech of the general manager at the Bank for International Settlements Agustin Carstens showed that his stance towards digital currencies is more favorable than it was in the past.
Earlier his month, Cointelegraph reported that blockchain startup LifeLabs is developing a digital currency dubbed BVI~LIFE in partnership with the British Virgin Islands. Earlier this week, reports surfaced that China plans to conduct the first real-world test of its digital currency.
Catalonia Is Moving to Achieve Digital Independence Using Blockchain
The burgeoning autonomous community of Catalonia has been struggling for political freedom from Spain for years. Now, according to Jordi Puigneró, Minister of Digital Policies and Public Administration, the group is also angling for digital independence.
«Just as the Internet brought us universal connectivity, blockchain will bring us new universal governance. It will affect the administration of government, will affect the economy, and it will affect one thing which is very important in our society: trust”, he said. “Trust is what moves economic transactions and it’s what moves the relationship between the citizens and their government.”
Puigneró said blockchain tech provides an opportunity for Catalonia to establish a model of self-sovereign identity.
“That’s actually one of the projects we’re launching in Catalonia, which is to have a self-sovereign and digital identity because we believe that it is very important that the monopoly of identity is not exclusive to the state”, he said. “We want to give power to the citizens or empower the citizens in a way in which they can handle better the privacy of their data. It’s also good for them to prevent the Big Brother concept. We don’t want our citizens to feel like they’re living in Big Brother State.”
The next goal is to make Catalonia a high-tech hub. He says he’s just getting started.
“Obviously, we’re not an independent state, so we are limited by some of the things which we would like to have, the tools to be able to provide,» he said. «We are working together with the technological centers and the universities trying to change our education system in order that in 10 years time, our citizens are more competent in terms of technical skills. We have help in attracting, curating and retaining the talent in Catalonia.”
