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The Bank of Ghana has announced the launch of an ‘eCedi hackathon’ that will run for 12 weeks to bring together teams of programmers, designers, engineers and other financial professionals to identify the potential use cases of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Hackathon to serve as a platform for innovators
The eCedi Hackathon is being done in collaboration with Emtech – a startup company involved in multiple CBDC projects around the world. A statement issued by the BoG said the hackathon will serve as a platform for innovators to brainstorm to come up with solutions to address financial inclusion challenges in Ghana.
The eCedi research project
The project is part of the eCedi research project and presents an opportunity for the central bank to explore emerging technologies, foster creativity, and contribute to the advancement of eCedi development.
In June 2021, the Bank of Ghana was one of the first African central banks to declare interest in establishing a CBDC, and two months later it signed a contract with Germany’s Giesecke+Devrient (G+D) Currency Technology to commence with the first pilot project.
A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey found that 85% of respondents believe the eCedi can help reduce money laundering and other illegal financial activities given the traceability and transparency usually associated with blockchain-enabled solutions.
According to the PwC 2021 Ghana Banking survey, 60% of the respondents expect an improvement in the country’s foreign exchange reserves on the back of the safer, quicker and traceable medium of crossborder payments and remittances the eCedi provides.
Credit: asaaseradio.com | K Mensah
