G20 Highlights: Winners Of G20 TechSprint 2023 For Cross-Border Payments Declared

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and BIS Innovation Hub (BISIH) of the Bank for International Settlements have announced the winners of G20 TechSprint 2023. This would be the fourth edition of the G20 TechSprint under India's G20 Presidency.

In a notification, RBI said that TechSprint 2023 received an enthusiastic response with 93 proposals submitted across the three problem statements by teams from Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Indonesia, Sweden, Singapore, the UK and the USA, among others.

Seven teams were shortlisted for each of the three problem statements and were allotted six-week time for the development of the proposed solution.

The fourth edition was launched on May 4, 2023. RBI and BISIH invited global innovators to help develop technology solutions for cross-border payments.

The final evaluation was held during September 03-04, 2023 in Mumbai during which, the 21 shortlisted teams demonstrated their solutions to an independent panel of judges. The panel of judges selected one team as the winner for each of the three problem statements.

The three winning teams were awarded a prize money of INR 4 million each and were felicitated by Governor Shaktikanta Das at a function held in Mumbai on September 4, 2023.

Problem 1: Under AML/CFT/Sanctions technology solutions to reduce illicit finance risk, companies like Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLIEF), Global Screening Services (GSS), Mastercard Technology, Monetago, PayGlocal, Secretarium, and UNCDF (United Nations Capital Development Fund).

The winner here was UK-based Secretarium whose solution DANIE platform enables common challenges to be solved together using secure Privacy Technology, in partnership with major global banks.

Problem 2: FX and liquidity technology solutions to enable settlement in more emerging market and developing economy (EMDE) currencies.

Here as well, seven participants were shortlisted. These were --- Ajna.inc, Baton Systems Inc., Dian Nofitri/Clever, Groww, Millicent Labs, Partior, and Uniswap Labs.

The winner is once again UK-based Millicent Labs whose solution LOFThub addresses FX challenges in EMDE currencies, by presenting a hybrid decentralised exchange for CBDCs, blending Automated Market Makers and traditional order books, to optimise liquidity and combat volatility risk, facilitating real-time settlements across multiple distributed ledger technologies and currencies - even without a direct trading pair.

Problem 3: Technology solutions for multilateral cross-border CBDC platforms.

7 participants that were shortlisted under this, were Currency Network Ltd, FortisNet LTD, G+D and UDPN, Kevin Zhang, Knox Networks, Parfin, and Zerone Microsystems Pte. Ltd.

US-based Knox Networks is the winner in this category. Knox's solution is based on File-Based Digital Assets and can support wholesale and retail CBDC, interlink with tokenized commercial bank deposits, perform atomic settlement via programmable transactions, link identity systems, and tokenize currency, securities, and other asset types.

The 2023 edition has again brought forward innovative solutions to help address challenges in cross-border payments, a priority identified by the G20. For this year's G20 TechSprint, the RBI in collaboration with the BIS Innovation Hub contributed to the global efforts in enhancing cross-border payments through innovative solutions.