Along with the latest annual report from the European Central Bank, there was also a feature on the tech. The paper reiterates a position expressed in the past by ECB officials, that the central bank is not likely to tap distributed ledgers in the near future.
The ECB wrote: “The ECB is open to considering new ways to enhance its market infrastructure. However, any technology-based innovation would have to meet high requirements in terms of safety and efficiency … At this stage of its development, [distributed ledger technology (DLT)] is not mature enough and therefore cannot be used in the Eurosystems market infrastructure. As DLT-based solutions are constantly evolving, the ECB will continue to monitor developments in this field and explore practical uses for DLT.”
Still, the ECB is pursuing a research effort alongside the Bank of Japan, which sees the two institutions weighing potential applications. Also the banking authority has been actively testing the tech since early 2016.
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