The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) entered into agreements to begin the process of developing Blockchain Technology Based Shared Know-Your-Customer (KYC) proofs of concept (POCs) on 7 July 2020. CBSL identified the potential benefit for Sri Lanka’s financial services in 2018 and initiated an inter-industry study of Blockchain Technology, with the voluntary participation of the banks as well as the IT industry. CBSL decided to pave the way for Blockchain Technology based financial service solutions in Sri Lanka developing a Shared KYC solution. The CBSL advertised inviting companies with experience in developing Blockchain Technology based solutions for Shared KYC to join this project on a voluntary basis. Upon receiving a number of applications, the CBSL selected three applicants to develop POCs concurrently.
Over 40 companies, including 17 foreign companies applied, either individually or jointly, to develop the POC. After several rounds of selection, the CBSL selected three applicants to be tasked with this pioneering project in Sri Lanka. The selected applicants are Sampath Bank PLC together with the University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC) as joint applicants, norbloc AB from Sweden, and Yaala Labs (Pvt) ltd and Linearsix (Pvt) Ltd, both Sri Lankan companies, as joint applicants.