The Digital Dollar Project Launches Technical Sandbox Program

The new program will explore technical and business implementation questions in collaboration with Digital Asset, EMTECH, Knox Networks, and Ripple.

The Digital Dollar Project (DDP) – a partnership between consulting giant Accenture and the Digital Dollar Foundation to advance exploration of a United States Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) – has announced the launch of its Technical Sandbox Program that will explore technical and business implementation of the digital currency with the help of four initial participants: Digital Asset, EMTECH, Knox Networks, and Ripple.

The program – which is slated to begin in early October – will serve as a collaborative space for the DDP participants and financial service providers, offering a neutral environment for the evaluation of technological, business, and policy approaches to CBDCs. Program participants will examine real-world technology, explore potential implications to business strategies and operations, and experiment to uncover possible use-case specific solutions.

“The launch of our Technical Sandbox Program marks the next step in our effort to convene the private and public sector in exploration of a central bank digital currency in the U.S.,” said Jennifer Lassiter, executive director of The Digital Dollar Project. “The marriage of these sectors in our collaboration is essential and will lay the foundation for robust pilots that improve the outcomes and usability of CBDCs.”

Each cohort of the DDP Technical Sandbox Program will consist of two phases: an education phase and a pilot phase. Through the education phase of the Technical Sandbox Program, the DDP partners and participants will develop a business and functional understanding of the technology and evaluate the differences in possible design choices. During the pilot phase, the DDP partners and participants will identify and test specific CBDC use-case hypotheses with the aim of gathering data on business-level impacts. The results gathered will be broadly shared and used to inform both private and public sector stakeholders on how advancing technical solutions can unlock business value in a transformative way.