The Bank of England (BOE) asked questions to the companies that submitted bids for the $244,000 contract to create a central bank digital currency (CBDC) wallet proof of concept (PoC). The central bank responded by publishing its responses to more than 70 queries.
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According to Cointelegraph, the BOE opened applications on December 9 and requested applications from suppliers. Before December 25, about 20 businesses turned in their applications and questions. After that, the BOE published the queries posed by the rival providers and provided its responses in an effort to shed light on the project.
The BOE claims that it plans to develop a back-end server for a core ledger, a mobile wallet app, and a retailer website. The bank made it clear that it will only use the PoC to increase its understanding and that it has not yet committed to creating a sample wallet. The BOE penned, “We’re using this PoC to deepen our knowledge and understanding of how CBDC products could possibly interact with each other.”
According to Cointelegraph, though 28 applications were initially submitted, eight suppliers withdrew after the question phase. There were 11 large companies and 9 small and medium-sized businesses that submitted applications. The BOE states that the selected applicant will receive the contract on January 31.
(With insights from Cointelegraph)
