nChain’s Liuxuan Pan talks deploying CBDCs on Bitcoin network on CoinGeek Backstage

At The Bitcoin Masterclasses #6, Dr. Craig Wright talked about how Bitcoin can revolutionize central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and remittances for the developing world.

nChain’s Liuxuan Pan was among the attendees, and as she tells CoinGeek Backstage, deploying a CBDC on the Bitcoin network would make it unstoppable.

Over 130 central banks—representing 98% of global GDP—are exploring a CBDC, data
shows. Some, like Nigeria, have launched it, while others, like China, are at advanced stages of the process. This makes CBDCs one of the most defining developments in the global financial sphere.

These central banks have been building their CBDC solutions on private ledgers and permissioned blockchains like the Hyperledger Fabric. However, as Dr. Wright pointed out in Masterclasses #6, the Bitcoin blockchain is equipped to handle CBDCs for billions of people.

“[Governments] could adopt Bitcoin as the base layer and then build the CBDC system on top of the blockchain like an overlay network. Every transaction recorded on the blockchain can be traced by the overlay network. This network can be customized by the government to accommodate their policies, including how the transaction can be monitored or changed,” Pan told CoinGeek Backstage reporter Becky Liggero.

Pan lauded Dr. Wright’s approach at the Masterclasses, where he had the audience interact in groups about the day’s topics and come up with more examples of how Bitcoin can be leveraged in various sectors. This allows the attendees to better grasp Satoshi’s ideas and expand on them, the nChain researcher says.

“We can ask questions and get the answers directly, which is quite nice. Discussing with colleagues and learning about what they thought of the topics sometimes gives us new innovations or cool ideas to develop solutions on Bitcoin.”

To learn more about central bank digital currencies and some of the design decisions that need to be considered when creating and launching it, read nChain’s CBDC playbook.

Watch: How CBDCs on Bitcoin should work