The Bank of Canada has undertaken a multi-phase experimental project, called Jasper, to critically examine the value proposition of distributed ledger technology in the financial system. Unlike most technologies blockchain is not value free: it attempts to organize the world with a different conception of trust. We describe our journey, collaboration with other central banks and financial institutions, our findings and outstanding questions.

Dinesh Shah is a director of Fintech research at the Bank of Canada. He leads a team that focuses on research on e-money and fintech. His research interest includes the analysis of emerging and potentially disruptive technologies with wide applications to financial market infrastructure and the financial system. He also drives the five phases of Project Jasper, which was the first project globally that involves a collaboration between a central bank and commercial banks to build a proof-of-concept interbank payment system with distributed ledgers. He joined the Bank of Canada in 2009 as an Enterprise Architect, then became a technical researcher focusing on research and analysis developments in e-money and payment systems and their impact on the Bank of Canada's mandate. He received an honored BSc degree from the University of Kent.