Dragonfly Fintech wins G20 TechSprint 2022 Global CBDC Challenge

by James · October 23, 2022

JAKARTA, INDONESIA – Dragonfly Fintech Pte. Ltd. has won the coveted G20 TechSprint 2022 challenge.

Dragonfly won against other finalists, which include BitMint, FIS, Mastercard Asia Pacific, R3, Ripple, Roxe CBDC, SeA(Stellar, eCurrency and ANZ).

Organized by the BIS Innovation Hub (Bank for International Settlements) and Bank Indonesia under the Indonesian G20 Presidency, this third edition of TechSprint aims to catalyze the development of CBDCs. Around 100 technologists and innovators from around the world presented solutions for the design and implementation of retail and wholesale CBDC.

In this showcase of best-in-class solutions, each participating team had to show prototypes and was asked to address one of three high-priority problem statements:

Building efficient and robust ways to issue, distribute and transfer CBDCs
Enabling financial inclusion
Improving interoperability

Team Dragonfly from Singapore, led by CEO and founder Lon Wong, won the coveted category “Building Efficient and Robust Means to Issue, Distribute and Transfer CBDCs” with their production-ready prototype “End-to-End CBDC Solution.” The Dragonfly solution features a comprehensive and cost-effective proprietary blockchain ledger with unique built-in features and includes a mobile wallet and digital identity platform.

In his acceptance speech, Lon emphasized that the fundamental principles of an effective CBDC solution must include the ability to be:

implemented as an independent measure
connected to existing financial systems that are already in place
highly flexible, scalable and compatible
cost-effective in implementation, maintenance and operation; takes into account the lowest achievable cost of ownership

The technology for the solution should be distributed and decentralized so that there is no single point of failure. Moreover, the system design should also include the use of other devices such as NFC cards for shopping instead of just using smart devices. System components should be kept to a minimum, simple and affordable, preferably in a cloud environment.

Payment service providers and financial institutions should be given some flexibility in technology without requiring the implementation of expensive CBDC edge servers on their premises. In a geographically expansive country like Indonesia, the design should be a cluster of networked clusters for high throughput and reliability, similar to how the Internet is designed.

User experience and transactions should be seamless, regardless of location, and a payment settlement rail should be a core component of the CBDC system where counterparty risk is almost non-existent via an extended escrow function performed by a neutral and independent party.

It is clear from Lon’s speech that Team Dragonfly is fully aware of the intricate needs of a winning solution that can be both an efficient and robust way to issue, distribute and transfer CBDCs.

Dragonfly technology is used by Dragonfly Fintech (Cambodia) Plc, which is a payment service institution licensed by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) known as Payluy eWallet in Cambodia.

Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC) are digital assets, similar to digital currency, issued by a central bank of a country. They are linked to the value of the country’s fiat currency.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution owned by central banks that “promotes international monetary and financial cooperation and acts as a bank for central banks”. Sixty-three (63) central banks and monetary authorities are currently members of the BIS.

For further information, please contact: Richard Soo: [email protected]