Will Quant (QNT) develop a Digital Pound and CBDCs?
Quant (QNT) could become of the most valuable DeFi tokens because the team behind it is working on a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) with the Bank of England. Hence, Quant could help the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street create a Digital Pound, an official CBDC for the United Kingdom.
In addition to a Digital Pound, the Quant team is also working on CBDCs with the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). The BIS is an international cartel of central banks that supports central banks with technology and other resources.
The goal of the BIS is to promote and spread monetary and financial stability. Moreover, the BIS calls itself a “bank for central banks.” Among other things, the BIS develops new technology for central banks. The BIS has several CBDC development efforts underway in different parts of the world.
Quant working on CBDC Connectivity
Quant was part of the vendor team for Project Rosalind. Project Rosalind was the BIS and the Bank of England’s effort to develop and test CBDC payments technology. Importantly, they ran Project Rosalind through the BIS Innovation London Hub Centre.*
Specifically, Rosalind was developing application programming interfaces (APIs) for CBDCs. An API is a set of defined rules that enable different applications to communicate with each other.*
Hence, Rosalind is developing the means for CBDCs to interface with banking and financial technology (FinTech) system. Developers write APIs into software so it can communicate with other software.
In particular, “API documentation provides the interface for communication between applications, simplifying application integration,” IBM notes.*. For example, an API that allows an ATM to convert a digital pound into a paper pound the machine can dispense.
Thus, Quant was helping to develop an important piece of decentralized finance software (DeFi) for central banks and the banking system.
Can Quant (QNT) make money from Tokenization?
Quant’s role is the tokenization of assets such as currencies for financial institutions and enterprises. Quant wants to help central banks create CBDCs and programmable money.
Quant is trying to develop a patented tokenization technology for currencies and assets such as carbon credits. However, I see no evidence Quant has any tokenized assets other than its own cryptocurrency.
Although, Quant is working with the Bank of England and the BIS, which is impressive.
Overledger and Quant
Moreover, Quant (QNT) is developing Overledger a low-code API that will serve as a gateway to the blockchain for financial institutions. Uses for Overledger include asset tokenization and support for cryptocurrencies.*
They claim Overledger supports chain-agnostic smart contracts. A smart contract is a digital robot that conducts transactions on a blockchain. For instance, a stablecoin smart contract makes payment in fiat currency.
To explain, chain agnostic means a smart contract can operate on multiple blockchains. Hence, an Overledger stablecoin could make pound payments on several blockchains, such as Ethereum (ETH) and Binance (BNB).
They are planning to build a platform of Overledger APIs. Quant hopes to make money by charging financial institutions for access to an Overledger API platform.
Overledger will be one of many platforms Quant wants to build for financial institutions. Hence, Quant is an infrastructure company for the financial services industry.
Quant and Cross-Border Payments
Products Quant plans include cross-border payments systems, including LACChain. LACChian a LACChain, a pan-regional blockchain programme across 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
They claim LACCHain can support stablecoins and currency. Fiat-backed stablecoins that support interabank payments. Importantly, those stablecoins can work with ATM networks, which can allow users to convert them to cash.
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Quant claims LACCHain can support stablecoin remittances across borders. Remittances are payments individuals send to friends and relatives in other countries. For example, money a construction worker in Chicago sends to a relative back home in Guatemala.
Remittances are an enormous business. The World Bank estimates the size of the remittance market at $647 billion in 2022. Moreover, remittances could grow to $656 billion in 2023.*
“The top five recipient countries for remittances in 2022 were India (receiving $111 billion), Mexico ($61 billion), China ($51 billion), the Philippines ($38 billion), and Pakistan ($30 billion),” The World Bank estimates.
Importantly, LACCChain can support wholesale stablecoin and account-management for banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions. In particular, they want blockchain solutions that can work with consumer and business bank accounts and support anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) efforts. This can include batch payments, whitelisting, and account freezing.
Quant has some impressive partners including the BIS, His Majesty’s Treasury, the British Ministry of Justice, 10 Downing Street (the office of the British Prime Minister), Barclay’s, Visa (V), HSBC, Pfizer, Deutsche Bank (DB), AstraZeneca, Deloitte, British Petroleum (BP), MasterCard (M), SWIFT, Johnson & Johnson, Baker McKenzie, and Total Energies.
What Value Does Quant Offer?
Interestingly, Quant was CoinMarketCap’s 13th most trending cryptocurrency on 25 June 2023 with a Coin Price of $107.10 on 27 June 2023. Thus, Mr. Market thinks Quant could build CBDCs for governments.
Quant (QNT) was the 39th largest cryptocurrency, with a Market Capitalization of $1.29 billion, a Fully Dilluted Market Cap of $1.592 billion, and a 24-Hour Market Volume of $16.261 billion. They base those numbers on a Circulating Supply of 12.073 million QNT and a 14.881 million QNT Total Supply.
I think Quant is an interesting token speculators need to investigate because it has the backing of His Majesty’s Government, the Bank of England, and the BIS. Hence, Quant (QNT) could achieve enormous value if the Bank of England issues a digital pound.
DeFi speculators need to investigate Quant because it has official backing.
*https://quant.network/news/quant-collaborates-with-bis-and-the-bank-of-england-on-project-rosalind/