Thread by @NikhilG13843918

My team at @mitDCI and Boston Fed just released their technical white paper and open source code base on central bank digital currency (CBDC) design. While we still don't know if a #CBDC is the right answer, there are multiple reasons I am excited about this first🧵

We open sourced our entire code! I deeply believe that open sourcing allows for neutral, responsible research to take place while bringing transparency & diverse, global perspectives to this effort. This is also one of the first times the Fed has open sourced code! #OSS

We built two architectures for a centralized transaction processor. The first architecture (the #atomizer) processes transactions through an ordering server and can handle 170,000 tx/sec

The second architecture (2PC) processes transactions in parallel on multiple computers and can handle 1.7M tx/sec. The main functional difference between our two architectures is that the atomizer materializes an ordered history for all transactions, while #2PC doesn't

We also found that breaking down transaction processing gives us many choices in the possible roles for participants in a CBDC system, along dimensions like authorization and custody. System design choices are not binary.

We’ve also shown that we can limit the data stored in the transaction processor, protecting user privacy, and are going to continue further research on using more advanced cryptographic designs. Learn more here:

dci.mit.edu/opencbdc

Paper here: static1.squarespace.com/static/59aae5e…