Itau Unibanco, one of Brazil’s largest banking conglomerates, was selected by the country’s central bank to develop a system with a stable currency linked to the value of the Brazilian rial. ITAO was one of eight proposals chosen by Brazil’s Central Bank as part of LIFT Lab, an annual initiative focused on financial innovation.
Itao Unipanco to develop digital real stablecoin
The Brazilian Central Bank is progressing in its pilot program to launch its digital currency for the Central Bank (CBDC), the digital real. The bank selected Itau Unibanco, one of the largest banks in the country, to build a decentralized financial solution that includes building a stable currency associated with Riyal.
The application will include functions commonly found in liquidity pools, but real linking to other stablecoins representing paper currencies from around the world.
Although not much has been disclosed regarding the project at this stage, the application may support the pooling, management and conservation of alternative assets and investments using blockchain-based software.
The project presented by Itau Unibanco is one of eight selected by the Central Bank of Brazil as part of the Financial and Technological Innovation Laboratory (LIFT), a financial innovation program that is now in its fifth edition.
On the objective of the program, Andre Sekera, Head of Technology at the Central Bank of Brazil stated:
LIFT Lab is an opportunity to interact with the community as we offer central bank value in building innovation in the national financial system. The release of a new version, which now covers 8 projects, represents an important milestone for the LIFT lab, which completes 5 years of operation.
Other projects submitted
Other projects selected to be part of LIFT Lab 2022 include a credit solution for vulnerable people in Brazilian slums involving community members as facilitators of these grants, which will be developed by G10 Bank; A system that would serve as a bridge for digital reality exchange with other existing block chains using Celo blockchain; And solve the asset coding on blockchain to decentralize credit risk.
LIFT also presented a reality-focused digital challenge last March, with nine projects selected for study and accompanying by the Central Bank of Brazil.