The Bahamas’ Sand Dollar is a distributed CBDC that was rolled out on October 20, 2020. The Bahamas is one of the first countries to move beyond pilot testing of its CBDC. It has a functioning blockchain ecosystem and is progressing in creating CBDC-specific legislation. As The Bahamas is an island nation and has many residents who do not have access to financial services, the Sand Dollar’s main objective is to provide greater financial inclusion across all the country.

Europe’s Digital Euro is a joint CBDC project of the EU member countries. As of February 2021, the European countries are more or less on the same stage of conceptualizing the legislative, technical, and business components necessary for a CBDC. The only exception is France, which has already conducted two pilot tests. Despite the countries’ independent efforts, the European Central Bank (ECB) will be the one responsible for the introduction of the Digital Euro. Christine Lagarde, President of…

Venezuela’s Petro, also known as Petromoneda, is an allegedly oil-backed CBDC introduced in 2018. Although actively pushed by the Maduro government, Petro has not been actively used by the Venezuelan citizens. Most of it was being immediately sold for US dollars or exchanged for goods and services. Despite the lack of adoption, the Venezuelan government managed to put together one of the most advanced CBDC projects, making Venezuela one of the first countries to introduce a CBDC legislation and…

Russia’s Digital Ruble is a CBDC designed to be an additional form of money equivalent to cash and non-cash rubles. Currently, the country is discussing the preferred architecture, model, and blockchain, and the government has already tested a CBDC prototype. From a technical standpoint, Russia has created a technical foundation for Venezuela’s CBDC (Petro), as we discuss further below. This suggests the country is in advanced stages of technological implementation.

Uncontrolled use of deanonymizing technologies, such as blockchain forensics and darknet monitoring tools can threaten long-term security and safety of digital ecosystems.

Blockchain oracles, or off-chain data providers, are key players in the blockchain ecosystem - wielding as much if not more power than miners and protocols developers. Often misunderstood and overlooked, they suffer from constant misuse and security vulnerabilities. Licensing and endorsing professional oracles is key to improving the overall health of the blockchain ecosystem.