More than 90% of central banks around the world are actively exploring a central bank digital currency (CBDC), up from 80% last year. Digital currency adoption and exploration is accelerating at a rapid clip, and developers across the globe are helping to shape this future.

Back for the second year in a row, Ripple’s CBDC Innovate 2023 is challenging global enterprise and individual developers to create CBDC applications for reward bounties!

CBDCs will be a game-changer for the financial system, enabling better interoperability of payments and transfers, accelerating retail-facing transactions, and promoting inclusive financial frameworks for digital assets. With CBDC Innovate, Ripple is looking for developers eager to get in on the ground floor and build real-world CBDC applications that can change the future of finance for the better.

Calling Developers: Be Among the First to Build Real-World Use Cases for CBDCs

Through the competition, Ripple hopes to encourage the development of applications that can be leveraged for real-world use cases. Interested developers should consider:

• How will CBDCs be used by fintech solutions and payment service providers?
• How do CBDC solutions meet the needs of those without access to financial services?
• How can CBDCs be used to accelerate payments and lower third-party fees?

CBDC applications should be designed with the goal of improving transparency and interoperability between central banks and digital assets. While many countries are exploring digital currencies in some capacity, the way forward for implementing CBDCs is still evolving. That’s why providing frictionless, fast payments that are highly secure will be a key factor when evaluating a successful CBDC Innovate application.

The winners from the 2022 CBDC Innovate competition developed these top use cases and applications:

• conFIEL: a unique localized application designed to be used by the Central Bank of Mexico, conFIEL explores building a retail CBDC on top of the XRP Ledger for Mexico’s Central Bank (Banxico) using SAT (Mexico’s tax authority) digital signatures called FIEL (or e.Firma). The use of the digital signatures verifies the identity of users, thereby helping to prevent fraud and theft.
• Community Loans: enables users to give out and take uncollateralized loans in a peer-to-peer manner, incorporating a unique reputation-based system to establish trust.
• PeerPay: a payment system that allows anyone to transact money, send and receive different assets, see transfers, and manage an agenda of recipients.

Competition Specs and Details

CBDC Innovate 2023 will be conducted in two phases.

• Phase 1 is open to all qualified applicants with a total prize pool of $60,000 USD. Participants will develop their solutions on the public XRP Ledger, with finalists from Phase 1 invited to move onto Phase 2—a winners-only event with an even larger prize pool of $140,000 USD!
• Phase 2 participants will develop their solutions using Ripple’s CBDC solution

Below are details on the timeline:

• Phase 1 Submission Period: May 15 - August 18, 2023
• Judging: August 21 - September 4, 2023
• Finalists Announced: September 8, 2023 (Apex: the XRPL Developer Summit)
• Phase 2 Submission Period: September 8 - October 31, 2023
• Judging and Pitch Demos: November 2023
• Winners Announced: November 2023 (Ripple Swell Global)

Finalists earn the opportunity to present their solutions at Ripple Swell Global in November 2023. From there, CBDC Innovate judges will select up to three cash prize winners who will receive widespread recognition for their contribution to the future of CBDCs.

Enter CBDC Innovate: Help Build the Future of Money
Want to shape the future of money, literally? Register to enter the CBDC Innovate challenge now for a chance at cash prizes and visibility into your application and technical prowess.

Want to learn more about building on the XRP Ledger? Join the developer Discord to connect with the community, or check out the Learning Portal to jumpstart your journey.