The outcome of a now-completed Know-Your-Customer, or KYC, proof-of-concept study was revealed in a report submitted to Sri Lankan central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal this week.
Three partners developed the Blockchain-based KYC platform concept for Sri Lanka’s central bank, also known as the CBSL.
The CBSL and 10 regional and international commercial institutions, including Bank of Ceylon, Amana Bank, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Cargills Bank, HSBC, Hatton National Bank, National Development Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and People’s Bank, put the KYC platform to the test.
National blockchain program
The project began in July 2019 and ended on June 10 of this year with the development and testing of the experimental platform.
“We have invited software companies to create a shared KYC PoC free of charge, as a national program. The response to join this initiative has been extremely heartening,” Central Bank Director of Payments and Settlements D. Kumaratunge said.
Sri Lanka’s National Policy Framework included the project as part of an initiative called Vistas of Prosperity and Splendor.
According to Crypto Daily UK, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Project Coordinating and Monitoring, Namal Rajapaksa, has proposed forming a new “Crypto Committee” to oversee the research into the use of blockchain and crypto mining in the country’s efforts to become more digital.
Sri Lanka joins foray into KYC
Sri Lanka, like many other nations around the globe, has been hit hard by the ongoing global health crisis.
Government figures show the country is now recovering from its -16.4% gross domestic product growth in the second quarter of 2020. However, it has lost nearly $400 million in tourism revenue and $1.3 billion in foreign employment as a result of the pandemic.
Sri Lanka’s recent economic instability appears to have fueled interest in bitcoin and the government’s new foray into KYC technology.
For the current year, the volume of the Sri Lankan Rupee on Paxful, a peer-to-peer exchange, skyrocketed.
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube
- $400 Million
- 2019
- 2020
- around
- Bank
- Billion
- Bitcoin
- blockchain
- Central Bank
- charge
- commercial
- Companies
- crisis
- crypto
- crypto mining
- Current
- Development
- digital
- Director
- Economic
- employment
- exchange
- Framework
- Free
- Global
- Governor
- Growth
- Health
- HSBC
- HTTPS
- Including
- Initiative
- institutions
- interest
- International
- IT
- join
- July
- KYC
- million
- Mining
- monitoring
- National Bank
- Other
- pandemic
- partners
- Paxful
- payments
- platform
- PoC
- policy
- Product
- Program
- project
- report
- research
- response
- revenue
- shared
- Software
- Study
- submitted
- Technology
- test
- Testing
- Tourism
- Uk
- volume
- week
- year
- youtube