The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is launching Project Ubin+, a global initiative on the cross border exchange and settlement of foreign currency transactions using wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), according to its managing director Ravi Menon during his opening address at the Singapore FinTech Festival 2022.
Projet Ubin was first commenced in 2016 to explore the use of blockchain and distributed ledger technology (DLT) for clearing and settlement services. This is the genesis of Partior, a homegrown blockchain-based technology provider for payments clearing and settlement.
In a previous interview with The Edge Singapore, Partior CEO Jason Thompson said the firm has been building out its services and focusing on scalability. Within this year, Partior is looking to expand its end-to-end settlement currencies to eight from the current two of the Singapore dollar and US dollar.
Menon says Project Ubin+ will focus on three areas — to study business models and governance structures where settlements can be performed atomically to improve efficiencies and reduce risks; to develop standards to support the atomic settlement of currency transactions across DLT and non-DLT platforms; as well as to establish policy guide for the digital currency infrastructure across borders for better access and participation.
“Through Ubin+, MAS will collaborate with international partners to explore a broader range of atomic settlement solutions. MAS is working with the central banks of France and Switzerland and the BIS Innovation Hub to explore the exchange and settlement of wholesale CBDCs with an automated market maker,” says Menon.
An automated market maker will enable the exchange and settlement of digital assets to be performed automatically with the smart contract technology, he adds.
See also: Temasek-backed Partior's new CEO says recent funding is proof of blockchain commercialisation
The MAS is also partnering with SWIFT to explore different interoperability models to enable instant cross border payment and settlement across DLT-based systems and existing payment infrastructures.
