Sweden’s Crunchfish has partnered with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to integrate its offline solution for central bank digital currency (CBDC). The listed firm previously made the finals of the G20 TechSprint for CBDC in 2022. Meanwhile, TCS has numerous high profile banking partners, including three of the top four U.S. banks and the top four UK banks. In 2022 TCS expanded its Quartz digital assets platform to launch a CBDC solution.
Offline CBDC ranked as the most popular technology feature in the latest BIS CBDC survey. More than 68% of central banks said it was a likely feature, with very similar scores amongst advanced and emerging economies. When the European Central Bank issued a call for vendors for the digital euro, the offline solution carried the highest budget of up to €662 million over four years.
Given the budget scale, Crunchfish is relatively disadvantaged because it’s a smallish company. Hence, the collaboration with TCS is a sensible strategic move. While Crunchfish is listed, its market capitalization is equivalent to $35 million. Its offline CBDC competitors include IDEMIA and Giesecke+Devrient (G+D), which have billions in revenues.
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