French central bank releases first details of blockchain trial to manage eurozone credit identifiers

The French central bank quietly released new details about its work on blockchain last week.

The Bank of France said on Friday it had tested the technology used in the management of credit identifiers in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and for establishing creditor identification markers within SEPA, in its first publicly acknowledged blockchain trial.

According to a release from the central bank, public sector organization Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations was the lead participant in the test, which also included Paris-based startup Labo Blockchain and some unnamed French banks.

The Bank of France said testing began in July and culminated in October with the creation of a prototype tool for establishing and managing SEPA credit identifiers. As the project progresses, the central bank has shown the timing of weekly meetings with stakeholders and indicated that more detailed information about the project will be released sometime next year.

A few months ago, the central bank argued that more research should be done on the subject. Now, it is calling for any testing to focus on the possible positive and negative impacts of the technology on the financial sector.

The Bank of France made the following point in its announcement:

“This quiz allows all participating banks to share their analysis of the impact and opportunities of this technology.”

In the trial, the Bank of France became the most advanced institution in testing this technology.

Central banks in Japan, Sweden and Singapore have also launched similar initiatives over the past year, and the European Central Bank released a new research test in partnership with the Bank of Japan on Dec. 6. Earlier this month, the Federal Reserve published its first research paper on the topic.