The bank stipulates that the wallet must be able to perform essential functions such as exchanging currency and requesting payments, and has set its price at about $255,000. The Bank of England (BOE) is interested in receiving a “proof of concept” for a wallet that will have the ability to store a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The Board of Exchange (BOE) published a call for proposals on the UK Government Digital Marketplace on December 9. The Digital Market is a website where government entities can search for employment for digital initiatives.

In addition, the wallet must demonstrate that it can be uploaded and downloaded using a CBDC, that it can request peer-to-peer payments using an account ID or QR code, and that it can be used to pay online with businesses. All of these capabilities must be present.

A mobile app for iOS and Android, a website for the wallet, a sample business website, and the back-end infrastructure to service the website and wallet apps, while maintaining the data of the wallet. user and transaction history, are key deliverables for the project. The project will also generate these deliverables.

The bank stated that “no work has been done” on a sample CBDC wallet, and that it “will not build a user wallet itself.”

For the proof-of-concept project, which is expected to take a total of five months and cost $244,500 (or £200,000), the BOE has decided to look at five different vendors.

At the time of writing this document, no applications had been submitted.

The BOE has announced in the past that it intends to work towards establishing a CBDC by at least 2030.

The BOE’s work as part of Project Rosalind, a collaborative experiment it is running with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Center, is supported by the sample wallet. The goal of the Rosalind Project is to prototype an application programming interface (API) for a CBDC.

Rosalind’s API will also be tested for implementation alongside the proof-of-concept wallet.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt presented a series of reforms to Britain’s financial services industry on 9th December. One of these measures includes conducting a consultation on ideas for the formation of a CBDC.