Despite the ongoing market turmoil, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is still showing interest in the cryptocurrency space. The institution’s market intelligence division is set to be launched as part of the Eurosystem Centre initiative to offer vetted data concerning cryptocurrency projects.
The market intelligence platform will be part of several projects that focus on different areas of traditional and crypto payments. Besides having an intelligence platform for cryptocurrencies, BIS also wants to focus on the security of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
The market intelligence platform will be under the Eurosystem Centre initiative. The latter offers verified information about cryptocurrency projects. One of the key factors behind the launch of this project is the recent depegging of multiple stablecoins and the liquidity issues facing some decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols.
BIS said, “One reason is that most data on asset backing, trading volumes, and market capitalization is self-reported by unregulated firms… The project’s goal is to create an open-source market intelligence platform to shed light on market capitalizations, economic activity, and risks to financial stability.”
BIS addresses the security aspect of CBDCs
The report also addressed the vulnerability of cryptography to quantum computers. Quantum computing is believed to be capable of infiltrating cryptography technologies that traditional financial institutions use to process payments.
To deal with this issue, the Eurosystem Centre project will focus on testing the cryptography solutions and assessing the performance of the entire traditional payment sector. The BIS will also use the Sela initiative to assess the technological solutions derived from supporting CBDC issuance through intermediaries while boosting security and lowering transaction costs.
“This project will investigate and test potential cryptographic solutions that can withstand the vastly improved processing power of quantum computers. The goal is to test use cases in various payment systems and examine how the introduction of quantum-resistant cryptography will affect their performance,” the announcement said.
More central banks around the world have continued to explore CBDCs. CBDCs have already been launched in several countries. However, some nations, such as the US, are set to launch their CBDCs after assessing all privacy and security concerns.
The report further noted that the Hong Kong Centre under the BIS Innovation Hub would partner with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to create a prototype for a project that promotes environmental sustainability in finance.
