Yesterday, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) announced that it has upgraded its Quartz solution to support central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Quartz is TCS’s blockchain solution. For central banks, the update supports the lifecycle of a CBDC, including transaction issuance, execution and registration. It is also designed to allow commercial banks to work with central banks for digital currency distribution.

The announcement is timely given that the Reserve Bank of India recently shared its digital rupee roadmap to launch something in the coming months. However, TCS works with banks and central banks around the world and this offer is international. In fact, TCS BaNCS, its solution for market infrastructure and conventional custody is used by 50 institutions

“Central banks around the world are experimenting with CBDC in their efforts to transform payments and settlements and create an open and secure monetary system that fosters innovation,” said Vivekanand Ramgopal, President of BFSI Products and Platforms, TCS.

Speaking of Quartz, he said, “Its coexisting microservices architecture enables financial institutions to introduce these next-generation services even while retaining their existing systems.”

Quartz is a permissioned blockchain offering that supports multiple enterprise blockchains, including Hyperledger Fabric, R3’s Corda, and permissioned versions of Ethereum. It provides gateway services for integration with other blockchains and legacy systems. TCS has developed several smart turnkey solutions, including for rewards, loan securitization, marketplaces for tokenized assets, and cross-border remittances. It also has a crypto custody solution integrated with Thales hardware.