CBDC | Rwanda Moving to Pilot its e-FRW CBDC with Real Users After a Successful PoC

The National Bank of Rwanda (BNR) has published its long-awaited Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Proof of Concept (PoC) Report, marking a significant step toward a potential Rwanda digital franc (e-FRW).

This comprehensive PoC conducted over five months not only tested technical feasibility but grounded design choices in real user behaviour, resilience, and financial inclusion metrics.

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The PoC project involved several NBR internal and external stakeholders. These included:

• Financial service providers
• NBR internal stakeholders
• External stakeholders

Rwanda’s CBDC initiative is anchored in the idea that a digitally native form of central bank money could bring strategic advantages that complement the country’s already advanced cashless systems (including widespread mobile money adoption). According to BNR, the PoC was designed to validate outcomes identified in an earlier feasibility study namely that a CBDC could support:

• Payments system resilience, especially during network outages;
• Innovation and competition in digital finance;
• Progress toward a cashless economy;
• Faster and cheaper cross-border payments.

BNR’s PoC combined multiple workstreams to mirror real-world questions around digital currency deployment:

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Multi-Channel Payments

• Online instant payments worked as intended, with peer-to-peer (P2P) and merchant transactions clearing quickly.
• Offline transactions were successfully demonstrated via secure smartcards, an especially important feature for contexts where connectivity is limited.
• USSD integration enabled basic wallet and payment functions on feature phones, a major inclusion channel where smartphones are not universal.

User Experience

• Paid user research highlighted that participants found CBDC transactions fast, straightforward, and secure.
• Users valued the offline transaction capability with many indicating they would keep part of their balance available offline underscoring resilience as a key perceived benefit.

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Programmability & Innovation

• BNR’s Ideathon invited fintechs and developers to propose new applications on CBDC rails.
• Teams submitted concepts ranging from universal wallets and agriculture-linked finance to integrated billing, showcasing early innovation potential linked to programmable money features.

Cross-Border Payment Simulations

• Simulated payments illustrated how CBDCs might cut costs and delays in international transfers, a notable challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa today. While these were test scenarios, they laid groundwork for exploring real corridor pilots in future phases.

Key Lessons and Takeaways

• CBDC is technically feasible – The PoC confirmed that digital currency can work in Rwanda’s context with multiple secure channels, whether online, offline, and USSD, while remaining resilient and fast.
• Inclusiveness matters -Feature phones and offline capabilities are not an afterthought but essential design elements. The PoC showed that inclusion demands accessible technologies beyond smartphones.
• Real-life usability is essential for adoption – Testing with real users revealed where onboarding and interfaces need refinement to ensure broad uptake especially among less digitally experienced populations.
• Innovation is emerging – The ideathon process demonstrated strong developer interest and creative use cases which is early evidence that ecosystem stimulation can accompany CBDC rails.
• Policy, legal and operational foundations are critical – Beyond technical results, the PoC underscored the importance of robust privacy, cybersecurity, and legislative frameworks to guide future phases safely.

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Next Steps — What Comes After the PoC

12-Month Pilot with Real Users

Following the PoC, BNR has committed to a controlled pilot phase involving a limited but diverse group of actual users including merchants and everyday participants from urban and rural settings.

This phase will expand real-world testing of:

• merchant payments,
• person-to-person transfers,
• offline and online use cases,
• feature phone access channels,
• and potential cross-border interactions with partner central banks.

Defining Performance Metrics

The pilot will establish clear success indicators and exit criteria that will inform whether the CBDC should be scaled, redesigned, or paused.

Policy and Legal Framework Development

As with any CBDC exploration, Rwanda’s central bank continues to refine legal considerations including distribution models, privacy safeguards, and supervisory frameworks as part of wider financial system readiness.

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Evidence-Based Decision Making

Importantly, BNR has reiterated that no decision has been made about issuing the e-FRW as a legal tender for the public. The pilot’s performance and impact on inclusion, stability, and innovation will influence any future issuance decisions.

Rwanda’s careful, data-driven approach highlights a broader trend in Africa: central banks are increasingly moving from conceptual studies to hands-on experiments with CBDCs yet doing so with caution and an emphasis on inclusion and resilience. If successful, the e-FRW pilot could influence how other African economies design digital money that coexists with mobile money and banking services.

The Rwanda CBDC PoC Report signals a technical and institutional readiness for next-level experimentation. It confirms that a digital franc can work, highlights practical design insights, and sets a clear path towards piloting in real economic settings.

What remains now is to see whether the pilot confirms real benefits such as faster, safer payments and broader inclusion without destabilizing existing financial systems.

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Stay tuned to BitKE for deeper insights into the African CBDC developments.

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