By
Babafemi Adebajo
November 29th, 2023
The objective of this project is to streamline the processes of transacting with different kinds of property through the platform.
Santander, one of the biggest banking institutions in the world, has put out a proposal to broaden the scope of Digital Real’s potential usage as a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Brazil.
Santander is leveraging technology from another company, ParFin, to tokenize the ownership rights of the assets in a transaction and handle the exchange of the currency, in this case, the virtual currency, for the asset.
The latest CBDC proposal from Santander is part of the LIFT challenge, a series of projects selected by the Central Bank of Brazil to find appropriate applications for the digital real, which is expected to debut in 2024.
According to Jayme Chataque, Executive Superintendent of Open Finance of Santander, the objective of this project is to streamline the processes of transacting with different kinds of property through the platform.
“The idea is that, through tokenization, Brazilians can safely negotiate the sale of vehicles or real estate through smart contracts on permissioned blockchain networks,” he stated.
Santander now joins an already long list of institutions as part of the LIFT challenge, as the other eight projects were selected with the idea of testing the feasibility of running multiple proposals using Digital Real as a platform.
Other institutions including the popular crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin, are proposing similar solutions this year. Visa do Brazil is also taking part in a proposal that seeks to deploy a decentralized finance protocol to offer to fund small and medium-sized businesses using the digital real.
There is also a plan that would use the aforementioned CBDC to introduce offline payments, enabling buyers and sellers to conduct business without the need for the internet.
Santander is also open to adding cryptocurrency services to its range of offerings. The business declared in June that it would soon allow consumers in Brazil to exchange cryptocurrency in the coming months. Santander however did not reveal if it would be limiting the amount of cryptocurrencies to only the big coins, thus the likes of Bitcoin, ETH, BNB, XRP, and a couple of others.
The bank added that it was currently building the needed infrastructure to make crypto market access available to institutional and individual customers.
Santander again announced in March that it was collaborating with AgroToken, a business that creates agricultural commodities tokens, to launch a trial program for an Argentine loan offering secured by these tokens.