eCurrency Announces Collaboration with ITU on Standardization Guidelines
November 13 2017 - 6:15PM
Business Wire
eCurrency Mint Limited (eCurrency) announced today that it is
contributing its seven-layer security architecture to an
International Telecommunication Union (ITU) working group’s
development of a reference architecture for digital fiat currency
(DFC). This working group is tasked with outlining the framework
for DFC, showing interoperability scenarios and integration into
current payments systems.
The working group was established at the first meeting of the
ITU Focus Group on Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency
(FG DFC) held at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing,
12-13 October 2017. The meeting was jointly hosted by ITU, the
People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the Information and Communication
Ministry, and the Digital Fiat Currency Institute.
“The first meeting of the Focus Group welcomed broad,
enthusiastic support from both the public and private sectors,”
said Bilel Jamoussi, chief of the ITU-T Study Groups Department.
“We are in a strong position to encourage digital currency
innovation with the support of all stakeholders, stakeholders that
will come together in this Focus Group to build a common
understanding of their respective roles in managing ICT-driven
transformations of the financial system.”
The work of the FG DFC leverages the collaboration of all
players in the ecosystem including Central Banks and financial
standards bodies. The group has been created to establish
guidelines for policy and regulation, study the impact on business
and technology, and propose a reference architecture to ensure
security.
In his keynote speech, Yao Qian, director of the PBOC’s
Institute of Digital Money, defined DFC by four fundamental
properties as follows (paraphrased and translated): “DFC is defined
by (1) its value, which is anchored by the trust of the nation as
the unit of account, (2) its cryptography, forming its technology
base, (3) its algorithms, which are based on big data and
artificial intelligence, and (4) its applications, which allow user
experience and economic policies to be smarter.”
DFC is authorized and issued by a country’s Central Bank as
legal tender, designed to offer the same security status and
interoperable function as physical currency. It uses high-security
cryptographic protocols to ensure that it cannot be counterfeited,
while remaining fully transparent. This secure instrument can be
held in all e-money wallets and transacted seamlessly within
existing network infrastructure.
“eCurrency is honored to contribute our seven-layer architecture
to the work of the ITU. Our digital fiat currency technology
provides a secured and trusted electronic instrument for issuance
by central banks,” said eCurrency Founder and CEO, Jonathan
Dharmapalan. “The experience eCurrency has as a pioneer in this
security technology is a valuable contribution to ITU’s
mission to set standards and create an environment of technological
innovation and preservation of trust in a digital form of fiat
currency. It is important to safeguard financial integrity by
creating a reference architecture as the shift to a digital economy
is inevitable.”
About eCurrency:
eCurrency Mint Limited (eCurrency) enables central banks to
securely and efficiently issue digital fiat currency to operate
alongside notes and coins. eCurrency has pioneered the world’s
first end-to-end solution for digital fiat currency issuance and
circulation. The company combines hardware, software and
cryptographic security protocols to provide central banks the tools
they need to preserve their charter and doctrine as the sole issuer
of the national currency in an increasingly digital economy. By
enabling more secure and efficient digital transactions, eCurrency
supports the huge economic opportunities presented by the global
shift to digital payments, including increased transaction
efficiency, financial inclusion and economic growth.
About FG DFC:
The ITU FG DFC, was established in 2017 by consensus of the ITU
TSAG body and will serve as an open Focus Group for two years. The
FG DFC offers an inclusive global forum for digital financial
services stakeholders to study, share, and synthesize research and
practical experience to guide analysis of digital fiat
currency.
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