The Bank of Spain has chosen Cecabank, Abanca, and Adhara Blockchain as collaborators for a six-month pilot exploring CBDCs, separate from the digital euro initiative.

Spain’s central bank, Banco de España, has made strides in exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDC), revealing key collaborators a year after issuing an open partnership call. The chosen partners include Cecabank, Abanca, and Adhara Blockchain, selected from a pool of 24 applicants.

Adhara Blockchain, headquartered in the United Kingdom, adds an international dimension to this Spanish initiative.

The pilot phase of the wholesale CBDC project, set to unfold over the next six months, involves interbank payment processing and settlement simulations. The focus lies on using a single tokenized wholesale CBDC and exchanging wholesale CBDCs from various central banks. Additionally, the experiment will employ the Cecabank-Abanca consortium to settle a simulated tokenized bond using the wholesale CBDC.

The Spanish CBDC program remains distinct from the broader digital euro initiative, emphasizing its independence. Simultaneously, the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation has committed to implementing the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation ahead of schedule.

Despite these developments, a survey in October revealed that 65% of Spaniards expressed disinterest in adopting the digital euro as a complement to their existing payment methods.