The U.S.-based Digital Dollar Project said it will work with Ripple and a few other digital asset firms to launch a technical sandbox program to further study a U.S. central bank digital currency (CBDC).

See related article: CBDCs better poised for cross-border payments than Bitcoin, stablecoins: ECB study

Fast facts

• The non-profit initiative announced on Wednesday that the program is set to start in early October, with an initial focus on cross-border payments.

• The program will undergo two phases — an education phase and a pilot phase. The results of the studies will then be “shared and used to inform private and public sector stakeholders on how advancing technical solutions can unlock business value in a transformative way.”

• The Digital Dollar Project was formed by information technology consultancy Accenture and the Digital Dollar Foundation, a public education and advocacy group.

• In April, the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, one of the largest financial service providers in the U.S., partnered with the Digital Dollar Project and launched “Project Lithium” to test CBDC infrastructure.

• In March, U.S. President Joe Biden issued an executive order that placed “highest urgency” on the research and development of a potential U.S. CBDC.

See related article: Biden pushes the U.S. on CBDCs in sweeping crypto executive order