The TASS news agency reported that the Central Bank of Tunisia has launched digital currency. “E-dinar”. The first symbolic transfer of an e-dinar was made between the head of the central bank and a representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The new digital currency issued by the central bank (CBDC) is based on the blockchain platform Universa, developed by a Russian company.
This is the first country to officially launch a CBDC – Venezuelan Petro is considered a cryptocurrency.
Tunisia’s central bank has announced that citizens will be able to use the new digital currency for payments in the coming months. Also, the e-dinar will be used for cross-border payments, circumventing the need for US dollars.
The new currency will be issued online and through two thousand kiosks nationwide in Tunisia. Transfers between consumers and companies will be done by scanning a QR code.
Universa blockchain
Universa started working on the E-dinar blockchain platform about a year ago. The company receives a percentage of each transaction in the system, but does not have access to any encryption key or permission to view the records. The activity is carried out through the company Universa Hub Africa, but the central band of Tunisia is the only body that oversees the system.
Universa CEO Alexander Borodich emphasized the distinction between CBDC and cryptocurrencies.
“The e-dinar cannot be forged – the paper version is protected by watermark and watermark, while the digital currency is protected by cryptography. The production of a CBDC is 100 times cheaper than the waste of ink, paper, electricity for printing. “
Also, the transactions have the advantage of being separated from the SWIFT banking system. This protects Tunisia from any isolation of the payment protocol.
A test environment for the concept of CBDC
Representatives of the audit firm PwC, the IMF’s chief advisor, Hervé Tourpe, a member of the executive board of Amen Bank and officials from Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania participated in the presentation of the Forex Club. Representatives of the central bank in Tunisia invited these countries to join the project for international payments.
Universa claims that Tunisia could soon be followed by Malaysia, the Philippines, Argentina, Brazil and China in the CBDC show. In addition, Singapore, Thailand and Canada have made progress in digital currency research.
Tunisia has a small economy, which makes it the perfect test environment for how a CBDC will work,
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