BoG launches eCedi Hackathon for FinTechs, developers

Bank of Ghana in collaboration with EMTECH Solutions has announced the launch of an eCedi hackathon, to provide opportunities for FinTechs, developers and innovators to design innovative solutions that explore various use cases of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).

The event dubbed, “eCedi Hackathon”, is an innovation challenge set to run for 12 weeks, during which innovators will brainstorm to come up with solutions to address financial inclusion challenges in Ghana.

It also provides a platform for developers, innovators, and blockchain enthusiasts to showcase their creativity by exploring the many possibilities of CBDC technology and contribute to the future of Ghana’s digital financial ecosystem.

A statement from BoG said the hackathon will culminate in a conference during which solutions judged to be impressive will be recognized at an award ceremony.

A hackathon is a time-bound, collaborative, and intensive event where individuals or teams come together to work on creative and innovative projects, typically related to technology, software development, or problem- solving. In line with that, the eCedi Hackathon is expected to brings together programmers, designers, engineers, and other professionals often with diverse backgrounds and skills to brainstorm ideas and create working prototypes or software applications.

According to the statement, the eCedi Hackathon is part of the eCedi research project and presents an opportunity for the central bank to explore emerging technologies, foster creativity and contribute to the advancement of eCedi development.

It noted that the objectives of the Hackathon include the following:
i. Encourage local developers to showcase their creativity by collaborating with peers to generate innovative solutions towards solving financial inclusion problems based on the eCedi;

ii. Facilitate CBDC knowledge sharing among the Bank of Ghana, banks and payment service providers; and

iii. Provide an opportunity for networking and collaboration with other organizations and software developers working in the CBDC domain.

Per the statement, the proposed innovations are expected to leverage eCedi tokens and APIs to prototype solutions or develop tools that address the following use cases:

• Use of eCedi in Merchants transactions (C2B)
• Use of eCedi for government payments (G2P, P2G)
• Use of eCedi in Agriculture and Trade (C2B, B2B)
• Data Privacy while holding or transacting with eCedi
• Use eCedi for inbound remittance
• Combatting the use of eCedi for illicit transactions
• Make the eCedi Interoperable
• KYC models solutions for eCedi and
• Possible models for cross-border payments and transactions.

The statement said following today’s announcement of the eCedi Innovation Challenge, applications will be open on 6th October 2023, adding that “Bank of Ghana invites interested individuals and teams to join in this journey to investigate new ideas of making eCedi relevant in diverse use cases.”