Can digital cash protect privacy and prepare for quantum threats?
Project Tourbillon built prototypes to examine payer anonymity, quantum-safe security and the ability to process growing payment volumes.
From the archive · 29 Nov 2023
A retrospective written for Chain Perspective. It describes the source at that date and does not imply current availability or status.
Reported development: · AI-assisted, source-linked brief
In brief
- The prototypes examined privacy, security and scale together.
- A prototype’s design goals are not a guarantee for a future currency.
The development
In November 2023, the BIS Innovation Hub’s Swiss Centre published Project Tourbillon. The project built two CBDC prototypes around three goals: payer anonymity, security using quantum-safe cryptography and scalability tested with payment data. It placed privacy alongside performance and security, rather than treating privacy as a feature to consider after the underlying payment architecture was complete.
Why it matters
The useful lesson is that a digital currency’s design needs to address several demands at once. People may want private payments, while the system must remain robust and able to serve many users. Tourbillon explored that combination experimentally. Its publication does not mean a particular currency became available, nor does a prototype establish lasting protection against every future attack. It provides a concrete research example for evaluating such claims.
Sources and verification
Based on an official announcement
Based on the dated primary source. This retrospective does not establish current availability or subsequent outcomes.
- Project Tourbillon: exploring privacy, security and scalability for CBDCs ↗Bank for International Settlements · Primary document · 29 Nov 2023
Prepared with AI assistance from the linked sources. This is not a claim of independent field reporting or human review. How we publish · Report a correction
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