Germany’s central bank is working on a blockchain project, but it’s not a CBDC

Bundesbank seems to be coyly flirting with blockchain technology.

According to a public notice published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union, Ocean Protocol, a Singaporean non-profit foundation, was hired to create a decentralized network for Germany’s Bundesbank.

The central bank said that the Ocean protocol, which is a project of relatively limited renown, was chosen mostly because they were the only possible contractor for the job, citing a “lack of comparable competitors.”

Bundesbank detailed in its public notice that the main purpose of the project is to set up a “decentralized network approach, which allows participants a permanent, symmetrical data access for the realization of real-time updates of statistics while preserving data sovereignty.”

The institution expects to work hand in hand with the Ocean protocol to build a platform for securely publishing, transferring, and consuming public and private data.

On October 21, Cointelegraph reported that the German central bank was considering alternatives to a CBDC. It is possible that this announcement is our first look into what such an alternative could involve.

In July, Ocean protocol announced that they would develop a pilot project with Mercedes-Benz’ manufacturer, Daimler AG.