Chinese blockchain firm launches the 'SWIFT' of stablecoins and CBDCs at Davos
A Hong Kong-based blockchain company has launched a digital payments system aimed at bridging the gap between stablecoins and Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).
Red Date Technology, the blockchain infrastructure firm which is also leading one of China’s blockchain efforts, launched the Universal Digital Payment Network (UDPN) on Jan. 19 during the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2023 meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
According to its whitepaper, the UDPN is a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform that would serve a similar purpose to what the SWIFT network does for banks, but for stablecoins and CBDCs.
Tech engineering company GFT Technologies and the digital asset creation engine TOKO from law firm DLA Piper are also contributors to UDPN development.
According to a Jan. 19 press release, a "number of global tier 1 banks" are already involved in use-case proof of concepts (POCs) to test the network in cross-border transfers and swaps.
The release didn’t disclose what banks were taking part in the POCs, but Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Standard Chartered, The Bank of East Asia, and Akbank were represented on a panel at the UDPN launch in Davos.
The stablecoins to be used in the POC were also undisclosed. The networks whitepaper does state, however, that it only supports “CBDCs and regulated fiat-backed stablecoin currency systems as payment methods,” adding:
Eight other proof-of-concept tests are scheduled for the network, including issuing and circulating a CBDC and bank-issued stablecoin and using UDPN as a payment gateway for e-commerce.
Related: Going cashless: Norway's digital currency project raises privacy questions
The UDPN has been in development by Red Date for nearly two years.
Before launching this digital payments
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