ConsenSys wins contract for Thailand-Hong Kong CBDC project

ConsenSys will develop a proof-of-concept for cross-border payments following successful research between the two central banks.

Blockchain firm ConsenSys announced Sep. 25 that it had been awarded the contract for a cross-border payment project between Thailand and Hong Kong.

The company will lead the second implementation phase of Project Ithanon-Lionrock. The project is a joint initiative to create a cross-border central bank digital currency, or CBDC, payment network between banks in the two countries.

Initiated in May 2019 by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, or HKMA, and the Bank of Thailand, or BOT, the project announced the results of its initial research phase back in January. This found that there was significant potential to use DLT technology to reduce intermediaries and settlement layers in the current cross-border transfer process.

The aim now is to build a proof-of-concept, setting up a cross-border corridor between Thailand’s Ithanon and Hong Kong’s Lionrock networks. This will of course also require a solution for seamless currency conversion between the Thai baht and Hong Kong dollar.

ConsenSys will use its enterprise Ethereum stack technologies, with a focus on prioritizing scalability, security, and interoperability.

The company has previous experience of developing CBDC payment networks, having been involved in both Singapore central bank’s Project Ubin, and the South African central bank’s Project Khokha.

More recently, ConsenSys was in the news after acquiring the JPMorgan-developed blockchain project, Quorum.