PANews reported on April 11 that according to Bitcoin.com, the Brazilian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) pilot project Drex is facing difficulties. Due to the reduction of resources allocated to the project, the project progress has slowed down and development has been hindered. The two largest companies involved in the design of privacy solutions for the project, Microsoft and Ernst & Young, have recently reduced the manpower invested in these efforts. The deadlock is related to the recent behavior of the central bank, which ended the second phase of the Drex pilot without approving any projects submitted by participants. The Drex project is currently at a standstill because the privacy proposals that need to ensure transaction confidentiality while allowing regulators to review have not met the central bank's requirements in this regard.
EY, which is currently in charge of the Starlight privacy project, has lost three people involved in the development of the solution. Meanwhile, Microsoft has also reduced its involvement in its ZKP Nova privacy proposal after investing a lot of resources last year. However, Microsoft's partner Hamsa will continue to test and support ZKP Nova. Rogerio Lucca, executive secretary of the central bank, recently pointed out that the team behind drex is still studying the future of the project. He said: "Based on the results of the ongoing tests, the technical team is currently discussing possible future steps for the project." But he did not disclose the results of the tests.
