MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative (MIT DCI) has released the source code for its research into smart contracts for central bank digital currencies (CBDC), known as PArSEC (Parallelized Architecture for Scalably Executing smart Contracts). This solution, specifically designed for central banks, is centralized and does not use blockchain technology, although it supports Ethereum smart contracts. The project aims to explore more advanced use cases for CBDCs beyond payments, with an emphasis on scalability and cross-border interoperability.

Privacy has become a major flashpoint in the global CBDC debate, especially among the crypto community, which tends to view central bank-backed digital currencies with skepticism. Meanwhile, the programmability of CBDCs — a key focus of PArSEC — brings its own controversy.