By George Ward
Recently, the blockchain giant Red Date Technology, the project behind China’s blockchain drive, unveiled the UDPN (Universal Digital Payment Network) at the WEF (World Economic Forum) 2023 gathering in Switzerland.
Red Date Release Whitepaper For UDPN Project
Other contributors to the UDPN project include GFT Technologies, a technology engineering firm, and TOKO, a digital asset creation company from the DLA Piper law firm. As stated in its whitepaper, the UDPN is a DLT (distributed ledger technology) platform that aims to serve a similar function to the SWIFT network used by banks.
However, the UDPN will be CBDCs and stablecoins. “The SWIFT platform offers a common standard for financial institutions to communicate across various settlement systems. Similarly, the UDPN aims to serve the same purpose for stablecoins and CBDCs,” the statement said.
Furthermore, the press statement stated that different international tier-one banks are already using this proof-of-concept (PoC) to test the UDPN for cross-border swaps and transfers. However, the report did not reveal the identities of all the banks.
The statement only mentioned that the Davos UDPN launch featured Akbank, The Bank of East Asia, Standard Chartered, and Deutsche Bank on a panel. In addition, the whitepaper did not mention the stablecoins used in the proof of concepts.
However, the whitepaper stated that it supports only regulated fiat-supported stablecoin currency systems and CBDCs as payment methods. “Unregulated public-chain cryptocurrencies, like BTC, will not be accepted,” the report added.
Eight additional proof-of-concept tests are planned for the network, including releasing and distributing a bank-issued stablecoin and CBDC. The company will also test the usage of UDPN as an e-commerce payment gateway.
Meanwhile, Red Date has been developing the UDPN tool for over two years.
No Association Between BSN And UDPN
Before introducing its digital payments system, the company had gained recognition for its involvement in China’s national blockchain initiative, the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN).
As stated in a roadmap that Red tap subsequently removed, the BSN aimed to construct a worldwide CBDC system. This CBDC system would help to revolutionize the current payment and money circulation method by providing a standardized digital currency transfer and payment process.
However, this new whitepaper did not mention the blockchain company’s participation in driving China’s blockchain campaign. It also did not highlight China’s CBDC strive with the digital Yuan.
Meanwhile, a representative for the company stated that there is no association between UDPN and BSN. This is because UDPN is operated and controlled in a decentralized way. Last June, Yifan He, the CEO of Red Date, called digital currencies the greatest Ponzi scheme in the world.