San Francisco Fed is Seeking CBDC Developer as More Countries Join the Race

The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco has announced a vacancy for a CBDC developer as the federal bank aims to explore the cost and benefits of the potential technologies for central bank digital currencies.

The San Francisco Fed posted a job opening titled “senior application developer – digital currency” on Saturday. The job description said the candidate is expected to aid the bank in designing and implementing systems critical to CBDC research. The post read:

“Given the dollar’s important role, Federal Reserve System seeks to further understand the cost and benefits of the potential technologies for central bank digital currencies, and how the system better understand this emerging field.”

The federal bank said they are looking for a senior developer to implement example systems related to a CBDC. The applicant will engage directly with management, other developers on the team, and vendors to ensure the bank “is well-positioned to design, develop, and implement technology to support a CBDC as may be required by the Board of Governors.”

Moreover, key responsibilities include developing systems related to CBDCs, identifying improvements, and mitigating risks, to name a few. The job is in San Francisco, California, with a base salary ranging from $110,300 to $176,300.

As part of the qualifications, the candidate is required to have experience designing and maintaining digital payments, cryptocurrencies, or CBDCs. Knowledge of cryptographic protocols such as zero knowledge proofs, consensus algorithms, and security is also required. 

At the time of writing, a total of 46 individuals have applied for the position. 

CBDC Development Finds Momentum as Japan and Russia Join the Race

Japan and Russia have become the latest countries to join the CBDC race by announcing upcoming pilots. 

On Friday, Japan’s central bank said it would roll out a pilot program to run experiments on the use of a Digital Yen. On the same day, the Bank of Russia announced it is preparing to launch a central bank digital currency pilot on April 1st. 

As per data by the American think tank Atlantic Council, a total of 11 countries have launched a digital currency, which includes countries like The Bahamas, China, Nigeria, and Jamaica, among others.

Notably, 105 countries, representing over 95% of global GDP, are exploring a national digital currency. In comparison, only 35 countries were considering a CBDC by May 2020. Moreover, a total of 50 countries are in an advanced phase of exploration (either development, pilot, or launch).

Brazil and India are two other countries that recently launched CBDC programs. As reported, the RBI’s deputy governor revealed earlier this month that 5,000 merchants and 50,000 users are now participating in India’s CBDC pilot project.