Are you curious about the future of the Norwegian payment system? Norges Bank, Simula UiB and the University of Bergen are organising a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) event in Bergen, Norway, in October 2022. The event is part of Norges Bank’s ongoing CBDC project and will consist of a conference on Friday, 21 Oct 2022, with talks by experts from industry, the central bank and academia, followed by a hackathon, targeting the development of an open platform for central bank digital currencies. These events have the purpose to engage with the community, enhance learning on financial technologies and the role of CBDCs in the economy, as well as provide a common platform for sharing experiences and reflections on the future of CBDCs. The conference is an important venue for anyone who’s interested in how our future payment system will look like, where you can take part in an open dialogue that would benefit the continuous work with the design of CBDCs in Norway.

What is the current stage of CBDC-development in Norway? What opportunities arise for business actors should CBDCs be launched? How are some international actors working with the development of CBDCs? What opportunities and risks does quantum technology provide to CBDCs? Are CBDCs something that decentralised finance would need and benefit from? These and several other questions will be discussed in the conference.

Are you a student, academic, FinTech player or maybe just a citizen that wants to know more on CBDCs? We want to welcome anyone who wants to learn more and discuss the future shape of CBDC. Register for the conference using the details below. Upon registration, you will receive a confirmation message for your attendance. We look forward to seeing you in Bergen!

Norges Bank CBDC project

A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a digital form of central bank money denominated in the official unit of account for general purpose users. There is an ongoing project in Norges Bank to assess whether a CBDC should be introduced in Norway.

The project has resulted in several reports; In 2018, a Norges Bank working group presented an overview of topics that should be emphasised in an assessment of whether Norges Bank should issue a CBDC. Central bank digital currencies (Norges Bank Papers 1/2018)

In 2019, the working group took a closer look at potential purposes to be achieved by a CBDC, and alternative designs that could achieve these purposes. Central bank digital currencies (Norges Bank Papers 2/2019)

In 2021, the working group had a closer look at the required attributes for a CBDC, how technical solutions can support these attributes, and potential consequences for banks if a CBDC is introduced. The working group also assessed how to proceed with the CBDC project. Central bank digital currencies (Norges Bank Papers 1/2021)

Norges Bank is currently in the fourth phase of the CBDC project, which will last until June 2023. In addition to further analysis, experimental testing is a key element of the current phase. Norges Bank is testing out several technologies. The main track is a prototype based on Ethereum technology. Another is the OpenCBDC/Project Hamilton open source core infrastructure developed by MIT media Lab in Collaboration with Boston FED.