Global CBDC Challenge

Welcome to the Hyperledger wiki page for the Global CBDC challenge!

This Wiki has been developed to help you find out more about Hyperledger, its leading open-source distributed ledger frameworks, its vibrant ecosystem,  publicly known CBDC projects using Hyperledger and who to reach out to in the community for support and collaboration.

Read MAS announcement: MAS Partners IMF, World Bank and others to launch Global Challenge for Retail CBDC Solutions

Interested parties are encouraged to submit their applications for the Global CBDC Challenge here by 30 July 2021 (Note: Updated with new extended submission date).

In addition to connecting directly in our technology community channels, feel free to connect here with community members on this activity here https://chat.hyperledger.org/channel/globalcbdc_challenge

What is Hyperledger?

Hyperledger is an open-source community focused on developing a suite of stable frameworks, tools, and libraries for enterprise-grade blockchain deployments. Hyperledger incubates and promotes a range of business blockchain technologies, including distributed ledger frameworks. A distributed ledger is a multi-party database with no central trusted authority. The differentiating nuance is that when transactions are processed in blocks according to the ordering of a blockchain, the result is a distributed ledger. Open-source distributed ledger frameworks hosted at Hyperledger include Hyperledger Besu, Burrow, Fabric, Indy, Iroha and Sawtooth. Learn more: www.hyperledger.org 

Hyperledger Distributed Ledgers used to develop CBDCs

The following three Hyperledger DLT frameworks are recommended for developers to consider for this Global CBDC challenge.

Hyperledger Besu is an Ethereum client designed to be enterprise-friendly for both public and private permissioned network use cases. It can also be ran on test networks such as Rinkeby, Ropsten, and Görli. Hyperledger Besu includes several consensus algorithms including PoW, and PoA (IBFT, IBFT 2.0, Etherhash, and Clique). Its comprehensive permissioning schemes are designed specifically for use in a consortium environment. Please visit the Besu wiki page for additional resources: Besu

• Developing and Conventions

• Documentation

• Meetings

• Roadmap

• Repositories and other projects

• Security

• Code of Conduct

• Governance

• Audits

• How-to articles

• Tutorials:
  •  Installing Besu
  • Quickstart: Setting up a Private Network 
  • Permissioning with Besu
  • Create a Privacy-Enabled Network

Hyperledger Fabric is intended as a foundation for developing applications or solutions with a modular architecture. Hyperledger Fabric allows components, such as consensus and membership services, to be plug-and-play. Its modular and versatile design satisfies a broad range of industry use cases. It offers a unique approach to consensus that enables performance at scale while preserving privacy.  Please visit the Fabric wiki page for additional resources: Hyperledger Fabric

• Welcome to Hyperledger Fabric

• Design Documents

• Hyperledger Fabric Roadmap

• Release Process

• Quality Assurance: Tests, Strategy, Reports

• Meeting Agendas and Notes

• Hyperledger Fabric SDKs

• Fabric Chaincode EVM

• Repos

• Hyperledger Fabric Private Chaincode

• Tutorials:
  • Getting Started
  • Tutorials
  • Samples

Hyperledger Iroha is designed to be simple and easy to incorporate into infrastructural or IoT projects requiring distributed ledger technology. Hyperledger Iroha features a simple construction, modular, domain-driven C++ design, emphasis on client application development and a new, crash fault tolerant consensus algorithm, called YAC. Please visit the Iroha wiki page for additional resources: Hyperledger Iroha

• Source Code Repositories

• Iroha 1

• Iroha 2

• Iroha Demo Videos

• Processes

• Audits

• Archive

• Community meetings

• Tutorials 
  • Getting Started
  • Katacoda Iroha Sandbox

Where can I get technical help regarding the Hyperledger project I choose?

Hyperledger projects are open source projects and are supported via the community. If you have any questions regarding the different projects, the mailing lists and chat are a good place to reach out. We have mailing lists and chat channels for each of the different projects.

Hyperledger in Action for CBDCs: Sample Use cases

Hyperledger Besu

• Bank of Thailand proof-of-concept prototype for a CBDC project, by ConsenSys alongside SCG and Digital Ventures. The private-permissioned network on Hyperledger Besu was designed to meet both the functional and non-functional requirements of a retail CBDC. One of the business cases tested the use of a CBDC to simulate daily commerce, automate payments, and support procurement and financial management system called Procure-to-Pay (B2P) developed by DV. Final report: https://www.bot.or.th/English/FinancialMarkets/ProjectInthanon/Documents/20210308_CBDC.pdf
• Bank of Australia has also partnered with ConsenSys to develop a POC for the issuance of a tokenised form of CBDC that can be used by wholesale market participants for the funding, settlement, and repayment of a tokenised syndicated loan on an Ethereum-based DLT platform. https://consensys.net/blog/press-release/reserve-bank-of-australia-partners-with-commonwealth-bank-national-australia-bank-consensys-perpetual-on-wholesale-cbdc-project/ 
• Fnality, in partnership with Adhara, is using Hyperledger Besu for a wholesale payments system representing USD, euro, JPY, GBP and CAD that will allow wholesale banking transactions to happen instantly, cross-border and 24/7. Watch their recent presentation to the Hyperledger Capital Markets SIG.

Hyperledger Fabric

• Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) has launched a pilot retail CBDC called “DCash” using Hyperledger Fabric. Partnering with Bitt Inc., ECCB shared in a recent OECD presentation that it selected Hyperledger Fabric because of its strong security architecture (private permissioned blockchain with strong identity management) and open source code, which contributes to its security, flexibility and scalability among other desired attributes. Also, watch their recent presentation to the Hyperledger Capital Markets SIG.
• CBDC pilot using Hyperledger Fabric completed by IBM and the central banks of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) found that distributed ledger technology can improve cross-border transactions and meet the demands of financial privacy in a purely digital context. In this report on Project Aber, the two central banks outlined the lessons learned from a yearlong proof-of-concept meant to test the viability of a shared digital currency.

Hyperledger Iroha

• Hyperledger Case Study: The National Bank of Cambodia's Project Bakong boosts financial inclusion with Hyperledger Iroha and was recognized by PwC in their Global CBDC Index as #2 Retail CBDC globally and #1 in Asia. This is the first large-scale quasi-CBDC in production and was built by Soramitsu: https://www.hyperledger.org/learn/publications/soramitsu-case-study

Potential Hyperledger member companies to collaborate with by project:

Hyperledger Besu

Search for business blockchain products and services built by Hyperledger members in the Hyperledger Vendor Directory. Select Hyperledger Besu to see members who offer Hyperledger Besu services and solutions built with Besu. 

Consensys have a Digital Currency Sandbox for Besu. The sandbox is running on a BESU network hosted by Consensys and Codefi Payments, the software powering the sandbox, can seamlessly be deployed on other BESU networks.

The API documentation is available here: https://docs.api.codefi.network/digital-currency
(Please note that they will release a new version on July 20th to make it easier to read and use.)

Hyperledger Fabric

The Hyperledger Certified Service Provider (HCSP) program is a pre-qualified tier of vetted service providers who have deep experience helping enterprises successfully adopt Hyperledger. The HCSP partners offer Hyperledger support, consulting, professional services and training for organizations embarking on their Hyperledger journey. Currently 24 Hyperledger Fabric HCSPs are available to work with. Learn more: https://www.hyperledger.org/use/hcsp 

Hyperledger Iroha

Search for business blockchain products and services built by Hyperledger members in the Hyperledger Vendor Directory. Select Hyperledger Iroha to see members who offer Hyperledger Iroha services and solutions built with Iroha.

Hyperledger Capital Markets SIG (Special Interest Group)

Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are industry specific groups of community members working together to help drive adoption of Hyperledger.  All of these groups are open, so feel free to get involved with anything that looks interesting.  You can also add all Special Interest Group calls to your calendar to find out about upcoming meetings. Learn more about Special Interest Groups.

The Capital Markets Special Interest Group (CMSIG) represents industry professionals working together to study how Hyperledger DLTs interact with Capital Markets use cases. These use cases cover issuance and trading of traditional and digital instruments to continued market-making, management of risk, program-trading, regulations, capital requirements, traceability, post trade settlement, custody including corporate actions and more. This group also explores architecture, standards, regulations, identity and performance related considerations specific to Capital Markets and DLTs.

Suggestion: Explore - Wiki page on Tokenization/Digital Currency  or learn more about eThaler Hyperledger Lab a sample CBDC in TTF implemented in Hyperledger Besu