The Bank of Ghana (which is the Central Bank of Ghana) has introduced an eCedi hackathon with the aim of exploring and identifying potential use cases for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
#eCedi #hackathon #bankofghana pic.twitter.com/cAqWsUdO6M
— Bank of Ghana (@thebankofghana) October 8, 2023
The hackathon, in partnership with EMTECH, will span a period of 12 weeks and aims to assemble teams comprising programmers, designers, engineers, and various financial experts whose solutions can contribute to the development of the CBDC.
Among the objectives the bank has for the hackathon is to facilitate CBDC knowledge sharing. In addition, the Bank of Ghana, other banks, and payment service providers will provide an opportunity for networking and collaboration with other organizations and software developers working in the CBDC domain.
According to the bank, the proposed innovations are expected to leverage eCedi tokens and APIs to prototype solutions or develop tools that address the following use cases:
- Use of eCedi in merchants transactions (C2B)
- Use of eCedi for government payments (G2P, P2G)
- Use of eCedi in agriculture and trade (C2B, B2B)
- Data privacy while holding or transacting with eCedi
- Use eCedi for inbound remittance
- Combatting the use of eCedi for illicit transactions
- Make the eCedi interoperable
- KYC models solutions for eCedi
- Possible models for cross-border payments and transactions
Earlier in 2023, it was reported locally that pilots were done in three locations, including Accra and Tarkwa, where various use cases for online payments were explored by examining how the eCedi could facilitate digital transactions in those areas.
A third location, Sefwi Asafo, focused on an offline experiment, testing the applicability of the eCedi in situations where internet connectivity may be limited or unreliable. However, Ghana is taking a different approach to that taken by neighboring Nigeria which launched a hackathon almost a year after introducing the CBDC.
“Nigeria went straight to CBDC implementation. And I love them for doing that – but we can’t do that!” – Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana Dr. Maxwell Opoku-Afari has previously said.
Based on the design document, the apex bank has also opted for a token-based, rather than an account-based system, minting the eCedi and then distributing it via commercial players such mobile money providers, banks and PSPs. According to the Deputy Governor, this approach, rather than the use of a central bank app, was chosen because the ‘goal was to enable the ecosystem.’
The hackathon is being conducted in collaboration with EMTECH Solutions Inc, a CBDC solutions company which has been a major partner with the Bank of Ghana in the CBDC process.
Registration will close on 20th October 20 2023 according to an announcement by the Bank of Ghana.
See more details and signup via this link to participate: https://www.bog.gov.gh/eCedihackathon/
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