The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has revealed details of Project Atlas, which aims to give authorities a clearer understanding of how, when and where cryptocurrency is used.
Development of Atlas began more than five years ago, amid a series of chaotic collapses in the crypto industry. According to the developers, they have created a prototype of the ultimate “proof of concept” platform, which collects data from both public “on-chain” cryptographic ledgers and from more complex sources of “off-chain” data – about the transactions of some not very popular exchanges and private users.
“Central banks need to obtain first-hand information about cryptocurrencies and DeFi, and the risks and opportunities they pose to the financial system,” the BIS said.
The BIS Innovation Center and interested parties will have information that gives a general picture of the activity in the use of digital assets, despite the anonymity of the settings of many crypto wallets.
The Atlas prototype displays data on BIS’s “innovation hub dashboard,” displaying information about how many bitcoins are converted into US dollars at a certain time and in a certain part of the world.
Earlier, BIS, the central banks of France, Singapore and Switzerland reported on the successful completion of testing of cross-border trading and settlement operations in wholesale CBDC.
