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GIORI
DIGITALGIORI
DIGITALGIORI
DIGITALGIORI
DIGITALGLOBAL SOLUTIONS FOR MONEY TECHNOLOGY
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Central Bank Digital Currency is an unmatched tool for a sovereign, more sustainable and inclusive future of every country.
Mission
Giori Digital is committed to make Central Bank Digital Currency a reality by empowering and accompanying Public Authorities, Central Banks, and their financial/payments eco-system along the CBDC journey.
Transformation
Central Bank Digital Currency is the most promising tool for digitalizing a country’s governance and economy and delivering the promises of a digital transformation in terms of financial, economic, social, and environmental impacts.
About Us
Founded in 2012 in Lausanne, Switzerland, by Roberto Giori, a long-standing partner of Central Banks, Giori Digital is committed to providing innovative solutions, extensive experience, and cutting-edge services for the creation of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
Over the past ten years, we have actively contributed to the research and development of CBDCs, by meeting with more than 40 Central Banks and key international bodies, and running technical, legal and environmental studies.
We conducted the very 1st Retail CBDC pilot in the world in 2018 with Banco Central del Uruguay (BCU), recognized by all players as a major milestone in the development of CBDC under the trademark of Giori Digital.
Giori Digital is offering engagement, solutions, and services, built on 10 years of interacting with Central Banks and other key players, developing technologies, and testing them in real-life conditions.
Together, we can create the future of your currency and accompany you on the digitalization of your country.
Our Offer
Our Engagement
Empower Central Banks to promote the sovereignty, autonomy, efficiency, and sustainability of the financial eco-system through Retail CBDC
Our Services
A comprehensive and inclusive approach, for accompanying the Central Banks and members of the financial eco-system along the CBDC journey
Our solutions
GSMT® is a ready-to-use, versatile and proven Retail CBDC solution, designed to seamlessly integrate with existing business processes and infrastructures
100% experience in CBDC
With an extensive legacy on the banknote printing industry while partnering with Central Banks all around the world for more than 35 years, Giori Digital is now fully dedicated in the CBDC industry.
Giori digital supports and advises Central Banks on the promotion of sovereignty, autonomy, efficiency, and sustainability of their financial ecosystem through studies, tests and gradual introduction of Retail CBDC.
A digital currency for Sovereignty
Nearly 80 State Printing Works (SPW) are currently active in the world, giving independence and autonomy to Central Banks for the production of their banknotes.
Giori Digital’s CBDC solution, GSMT®, offers Central Banks the same means for introducing the same concept of fiduciary money under the form of digital sovereign currency (CBDC) in their M-0 economic mass.
GSMT® also allows any Central Bank to issue their own digital currency at lower cost for the country than their banknotes and coins, regardless of whether it has a local security printing works (SPW).
GSMT® is the key to preserving monetary sovereignty and the Central Bank’s autonomy.
A digital currency for Efficiency
Embracing GSMT® is a great opportunity to connect the government, citizens, and financial institutions for more efficient transfers of social benefits and collection of taxes.
Efficiency means saving on distribution and circulation costs, increasing tax revenues, and avoiding financial frauds while reaching the entire population and fostering innovation that opens new digital public services.
Offering GSMT® as a core infrastructure fosters the digitalization of payments through public-private partnerships.
A digital currency for Sustainability
Retail CBDC is a key tool to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of United Nations’ Agenda 2030, acting across economic, social, and environmental pillars.
Retail CBDC is a driver for new economic growth. With GSMT®, the digital sovereign money, available through new and existing digital payment channels, will drive growth in digital transactions opening new opportunities for local development.
Retail CBDC is a driver for financial and social inclusion. GSMT® provides access to safe sovereign money for the underserved population, both for spending and receiving social benefits.
Retail CBDC is a strong contributor to the fight for the planet. GSMT® reduces the environmental cost of issuing, distributing and circulating sovereign money, compared with the legacy of banknotes and coins.
Q&A
1. What does Giori Digital bring to Retail CBDC ?Giori Digital brings more than 10 years of experience, proven know-how, a ready-to-use solution, and a set of specialized services for Central Banks in their Retail CBDC journey. This makes the Giori Digital offer a unique value combination in the solutions market for Retail CBDC.
2. What are the countries that can benefit the most from GSMT® ?Emerging countries are where Retail CBDC carries the biggest promise. GSMT® and access to CBDC via mobile devices will dramatically improve access to cash and social benefits in these countries, leveraging existing infrastructure. GSMT® also addresses more efficient and traceable collection of taxes which is critical for emerging countries.
3. How do you approach the Retail CBDC market ?We believe Retail CBDC is a unique journey for each country as it combines public policies, advanced technologies, infrastructure deployment, a public-private partnership model and the general adoption by citizens. It may be a long journey, but there are possible quick wins all along the path and lessons to be learned starting from day one. In recent years, international institutions such as OECD, IMF, BIS and Central Banks have conducted extensive studies on crypto currencies. Today, the topic is in the news and according to a recent BIS survey, 80% of institutions are engaged in CBDC work and 40% have moved from analytical studies to experimentation. That is why, on top of GSMT®, Giori Digital has developed a range of specialized services to help Central Banks and their ecosystems to optimize their choices and actions.
Our Approach
Giori Digital is a technology partner provider of products and services for the deployment and customization of GSMT® in a proprietary infrastructure or in cloud datacenters.
We propose a staged and collaborative approach, where all stakeholders, Central Banks, public authorities, and private institutions, define together the short-term steps and the long-term program for the deployment of a Retail CBDC in a country.
We bring our hands-on experience and full commitment to help build the CBDC program, and to implement gradual steps while measuring the outcomes for quick feedback to the program management team in the country.
Strategic advisory for Retail CBDC Program Design
Giori Digital provides strategic advisory services to Central Banks on business and technical requirements for the introduction of Retail CBDC in the country.
Our team of experts work closely with the Central Bank and associated partners to define the necessary steps of the CBDC Program. Each step of the CBDC Program is planned and monitored as an individual project.
Project Management for Retail CBDC Program Steps
Giori Digital can work on behalf of the Central Bank and with associated partners to manage the project’s related activities and Program Steps.
This includes technical activities such as the customization, integration, and configuration of GSMT®, and non-technical activities like marketing campaigns and incentives programs to promote the adoption of CBDC.
Continuous Retail CBDC Program Evaluation
Giori Digital directs the operation and analysis of the project’s outcomes, providing functional training and technical support according to established practices and relevant KPIs over an interactive and continuous evaluation process that includes all stakeholders.
Retail CBDC Program Toolkit
Giori Digital provides Central Banks with a comprehensive GSMT® Laboratory for testing each main feature and supported use-cases.
Internal tools support Central Banks in the analysis and strategic planning phases of a Retail CBDC project.
Additional software simulators complete the Retail CBDC Program Toolkit and includes useful tools for a managed design of the business and financial CBDC models.
Q&A
1. What makes Retail CBDC deployment such a challenging project for a country ?The multiplicity of concerned domains (financial, regulatory, technical, socio-cultural), the opportunities, the mix of public and private stakeholders, and the need to promote adoption by citizens
2. What sort of project management is best suited to a Retail CBDC project ?Deployment of Retail CBDC should be managed as a multi-project program rather than a single “waterfall” project where all the opportunities and risks are addressed at once. Each step, like in an “agile” project, leads to real life deployments and the lessons learned will feed the next steps.
3. What does Giori Digital bring to Central Banks and other CBDC stakeholders for the management of a Retail CBDC program ?Throughout the Uruguayan e-Peso Pilot Project with the Banco Central del Uruguay (BCU) we’ve developed a unique know-how of project/program management for Retail CBDC deployment : customizations, deliveries, integration with local stakeholders, operations, and monitoring support of a complete Retail CBDC system, including payment application software.
CBDC in Denominations
GSMT® follows the same processes as the existing for the management of physical banknotes, allowing the issuance of unique denominations value tokens that separates its value from the transaction management.
This design facilitates the segregation of roles across the CBDC ecosystem, allowing Central Banks to upgrade the currency's intrinsic security and to trace the distributed currency tokens independently of the connected payment systems.
The representation of denominations adds the feeling of ownership to the population, which is familiar to the cultural design used on circulation banknotes.
GSMT® Features
GSMT® is a mature ready-to-use Retail CBDC solution built using advanced state-of-art technologies and the best processes for software development.
GSMT® offers all the required features to issue, redeem, and circulate digital units of currency in a highly secure, and efficient manner. These digital units of currency, called eNotes, represent a store of value and a medium of exchange between two wallets without the need for settlement.
GSMT® has been designed with a flexible architecture capable of adapting to the legacy eco-system and new market opportunities, following principles similar to the ones of the European Union’s PSD2. It is comprised of three software products that deliver security and embedded flexibility to the ecosystem.
GSMT® Products Functions
GDM is the product for the issuance and redemption of Retail CBDC units under a secure authorization process controlled by the Central Bank.
GEM is the product for the circulation of Retail CBDC units, and services the CBDC-wallets of end-users. The GEM performs the validation and execution of transactions initiated through a comprehensive Application Programming Interface (API).
GWA is a companion product of GEM, providing user-friendly mobile application and web portals to support many retail payment use-cases.
GSMT® Operational Models - Business
While issuance/redemption of CBDC will always be directly operated by the Central Bank, there are multiple options for the operation and the supervision of the other functions and services that balance the roles of the private and public sectors, as well as to foster and regulate competition.
Thanks to its architecture and APIs, GSMT® supports all operational models for small to large countries, described in the following diagrams.
GSMT® Operational Models - IT
GSMT® products can be installed in a physical or a cloud infrastructure environment to serve different models and operational requirements.
GSMT® products are deployed using traditional relational databases and will be available using distributed permissioned ledgers.
Offline Payments
Giori Digital partners with WhisperCash company to offer a pre-integrated offline payment solution with GSMT® platform.
WhisperCash is the first fully offline CBDC that has the same properties as physical cash offering direct person-to-person offline payments without any server infrastructure or internet connectivity.
WhisperCash offline payments are executed between in-device wallets running inside secure smartcards. Value transfer is based on cryptographic signatures applied to the transaction relayed between payer and payee.
Wallets/cards are usually distributed to end-users after KYC procedures and provided with cryptographic private keys by GSMT® for service’s onboarding.
GSMT® and WhisperCash bring secure consecutive offline payments without compromising the security, privacy or accessibility of the end-users.
New Dual-Ledger Release : D-GSMT
On the strong foundation of its state-of-the-art GSMT® product range, Giori Digital is building the next generation of CBDC systems : D-GSMT.
D-GSMT stands for "Dual-Ledger GSMT®" : D-GSMT makes use of centralized relational database for the Local Ledger and of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) for the management of inter-GEM transactions through Shared Ledgers.
D-GSMT products are deployed using traditional relational databases and will be available using distributed permissioned ledgers. Thereby, it combines the unmatched performance of centralized processing with the immutability and the flexible governance of DLT. It introduces, in a financial market-grade infrastructure, the key enablers for financial innovation and competitiveness: openness and programmability.
D-GSMT distributed network has been designed to support different CBDCs while bringing a modern cost-controlled payment distributed infrastructure which can exchange with private stablecoins and other digital-assets, giving users the option to seamlessly transfer value across preferred payment networks.
Across both ledgers, the unique concept of Giori Digital eNote remains the assurance of control by Central Bank and thus the perennial security of all related assets, businesses, and users. GDM should however remain disconnected from the D-GSMT distributed networks to enhance the production, issuance and redemption capabilities and security controls by the Central Bank.
Q&A
1. What makes GSMT® a proven solution for Retail CBDC ?The GSMT® solution is built on the most advanced proven technologies for database management, cryptography, APIs, and networking. The whole system has been validated by the real-life pilot in Uruguay and extensive testing in our labs.
2. What about Retail CBDC and scalability ?Scalability is key for Retail CBDC, as the adoption by individuals and enterprises grows with time and the addition of new payment cases. A Retail CBDC solution like GSMT®® must be designed to serve any adoption growth scenario.
3. What makes GSMT® a highly customizable solution for Retail CBDC ?GSMT® allows a wide range of customization, from the fine-tuning of cryptographic parameters to cultural aspects like the visual representation of the wallet contents for the public to recognize the new currency.
4. Why has Giori Digital developed D-GSMT?The D-GSMT release implements a distributed ledger network that allows to add new participants and promote competition between multiple retail CBDC providers.
D-GSMT is suitable for medium and large countries, making it easier to manage CBDC financial ecosystem for specific governance and business rules needs.
CBDCs will drive financial interoperability and efficiency between governments and private digital assets exchanges.
Milestones
10 years in the CBDC business
Registration of Giori Digital in Switzerland.
Filing of first Giori patent application describing a Central Bank Digital Currency.Presentation in the 100º General Assembly of Interpol about the CBDC concept as a way to better fight against financial crimes, banknotes' counterfeiting and digital currency security controls.
GSMT® solution prototype presented to more than 40 Central Banks around the world.
FMI discusion meetings as Invited Speakers in Washington D.C.
The first version of GSMT® products offers a set of fundamental use-case functions for the issuance and distribution of a Retail CBDC.
Presentation of CBDC at Central Bank Payments Conference in Amsterdam as a Sponsor.
World Bank Group Meetings in Washington D.C. as Invited Speakers.
CEMLA - Semana de Pagos - conference in Lima/Peru as a Panelist.
Presentation of the CBDC concept and Pilot Project in Uruguay.e-Peso Pilot
From November 2017 to June 2018, Giori Digital deployed a first sandbox of CBDC in the world for a Pilot Project with the Banco Central del Uruguay (BCU).
This pilot was a world premiere for token-based Retail CBDC, and the first successful pilot for Retail CBDC issued by a Central Bank worldwide.
The involvement of Giori Digital with the BCU began in 2014 with detailed discussions of the Central Bank’s objectives and priorities. The detailed planning of Giori Digital together with the BCU extended over more than 2 years as the two teams considered all the operational and technical detail needed. The technology of the GSMT® solution was addressed in this process, but the more involved discussions in which Giori Digital participated and supported the BCU regarded all the other, non-technical aspects of introducing a Retail CBDC for the first time.
Giori Digital directed the whole Program Management to coordinate with the stakeholders for the customization and integration of the partners’ systems with the GSMT® solution, in technical terms but also in terms of business workflows.
This experience has been invaluable to build our understanding of the Central Bank and eco-system members and to feed the definition of later GSMT® versions.
The success of the pilot has been publicly reported and praised by the BCU, but also by other major institutions such as the BIS and IMF:
BCU Conference Communication.pdf
BCU e-Peso Pilot
BIS Events Presentation.pdf
SUERF.org.pdfGiori Digital presents GSMT® at the annual SIBOS conference organized by SWIFT in Singapore.
First study on the legal impacts of CBDC commissioned by Giori Digital to the Swiss law firm BMG.
Version 2 of GSMT® with new features for wallet management and exposure of API services to enable any retail use-case for CBDC.
Participation on Panel Discussion on CBDC at the IMF Annual Meetings in Washington.
Version 3 of GSMT® implements the GWA mobile payment interface to offer immediate adoption of Retail CBDC use-cases by the public.
Bank for International Settlements (BIS) discussion meetings in Basel / Switzerland as Invited Speakers.
Presentations to OECD’s Committee on Financial Markets in Geneva / Switzerland as Invited Speakers.On the strong foundation of its state-of-the-art GSMT® product range, Giori Digital is building the next generation of CBDC systems : D-GSMT®.
D-GSMT stands for "Dual-Ledger GSMT®" as it makes use of both centralized databases for the Local Ledger and of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) on the management of inter-GEM transactions through Shared Permissioned Ledgers.
The new GSMT® release offers enhanced features for user-accessibility, offline payments, performance and advanced quantum security.
Giori Digital partners with WhisperCash company to offer a pre-integrated offline payment solution with GSMT® platform.
The Team
We are a CBDC-dedicated team, pioneering in the development of commercial solutions and services.
The project was kicked-off in 2012 by Mr Roberto Giori, the former President of De La Rue Giori, at the time the dominant player of banknote printing. De La Rue, one of the premier printers in the market, agreed to create a joint venture with a Swiss-based company the Giori Organization. This joint venture provided the special equipment needed to set up Security Printing Works (SPW) for Central Banks in 75 countries and was incredibly successful on producing 98% of the world’s banknote volume.
Mr Giori with his 40+ years of experience with currencies and Central Banks, built a team of engineers and managers with long experience and track record in the digital industry, to meet the challenge of developing the first-ever Retail CBDC solution: GSMT®.
Beyond engineering, the team has led the way in the development of legal and regulatory principles for CBDC and has gained unique experience in CBDC program management in all its aspects.
Building on GSMT® and this broad and comprehensive experience, the team is developing services to accompany Central Banks and other stakeholders all along the CBDC journey.
Resources
Point-of-View Papers 2022
Giori Digital - POV Paper on Interest-based Retail CBDC
Interest-based Retail CBDC
Giori Digital - POV Paper on Off-line use of Retail CBDC
Off-line use of Retail CBDC
May 2022
CBDC Tracker : "Today's Central Bank Digital Currencies Status"
https://cbdctracker.org/
May 2022
BIS: Anneke Kosse and Ilaria Mattei : "Gaining momentum – Results of the 2021 BIS survey on central bank digital currencies"
https://www.bis.org/publ/bppdf/bispap125.pdf
Feb 2022
IMF: Adina Popescu : "Cross-Border Central Bank Digital Currencies, Bank Runs and Capital Flows Volatility"
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/paper.pdf
Jan 2022
FED: "Money and Payments: The U.S. Dollar in the Age of Digital Transformation"
https://www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/money-and-payments-20220120.pdf
June 2021
BIS: Andrew Crockett Memorial Lecture: "The art of Central Banking in a centrifugal world"
https://www.bis.org/events/acrockett_2021.htm
BIS: Annual Economic Report 2021 – Part III CBDCs: an opportunity for the monetary system
https://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2021e3.htm
May 2021
US Federal Reserve: Private Money and Central Bank Money as Payments Go Digital: an Update on CBDCs
https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/speech/files/brainard20210524a.pdf
February 2021
BIS: Fintech regulation: how to achieve a level playing field
https://www.bis.org/fsi/fsipapers17.htm
US Federal Reserve: Preconditions for a general-purpose Central Bank digital currency
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/preconditions-for-a-general-purpose-central-bank-digital-currency-20210224.htm
November 2020
IMF: Legal Aspects of Central Bank Digital Currency: Bank and Monetary Law Considerations
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2020/11/20/Legal-Aspects-of-Central-Bank-Digital-Currency-Central-Bank-and-Monetary-Law-Considerations-49827
October 2020
BIS: Central bank digital currencies: foundational principles and core features
https://www.bis.org/publ/othp33.htm
ECB: Report on a digital euro
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/digital_euro/report/html/index.en.html
August 2020
US Federal Reserve: Comparing Means of Payment: What Role for a Central Bank Digital Currency?
https://www.federalreserve.gov/econres/notes/feds-notes/comparing-means-of-payment-what-role-for-a-central-bank-digital-currency-20200813.htm
June 2020
BIS: Annual Economic Report 2020 – Part III Central banks and payments in the digital era
https://www.bis.org/publ/arpdf/ar2020e3.htm
IMF: A Survey of Research on Retail Central Bank Digital Currency
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2020/06/26/A-Survey-of-Research-on-Retail-Central-Bank-Digital-Currency-49517
March 2020
BIS: The technology of retail Central Bank digital currency
https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt2003j.htm
January 2020
ECB: Tiered CBDC and the financial system (Working Paper Series)
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/scpwps/ecb.wp2351~c8c18bbd60.en.pdf
December 2019
BIS: The future of money and the payment system: what role for Central Banks
https://www.bis.org/speeches/sp191205.htm
November 2019
IMF: Designing Central Bank Digital Currencies
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WP/Issues/2019/11/18/Designing-Central-Bank-Digital-Currencies-48739
July 2019
Observatoire de la Finance: Central Bank Digital Currencies
http://www.obsfin.ch/central-bank-digital-currencies-cbdc/
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