The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has shortlisted 15 "Global CBDC Claiming" participants to aid build an in-house retail central bank digital currency (CBDC).

An announcement shared by the MAS shows that the finalists include 6 companies from Singapore, four from the United States, and one each from Australia, Barbados, Deutschland, France and Switzerland, of which only three winners will exist selected to deploy a retail CBDC in Singapore.

Before long after the Singaporean central banking concern announced cash prizes for digital currency ideas back on June 28, the challenge reportedly saw the participation of over 300 fintech companies spread across more than 50 countries.

The global finalists include ANZ Banking Group Express (Australia), Bitt (Barbados), Giesecke+Devrient advance52 GmbH (Federal republic of germany), Criteo (France) and Soramitsu (Switzerland).

Locally, shortlisted Singaporean consortiums include Citibank North.A., HSBC Bank Limited and HSBC Holdings plc, IDEMIA, IOG Singapore Pte Ltd., Standard Chartered Bank and Xfers Pte. Ltd.

The United States-based companies are cLabs Inc., Consensys, Extolabs LLC and IBM.

This initiative to build a retail CBDC for Singapore volition be complemented with a greenbacks prize of l,000 Singapore dollars ($37,000). As discussed in an older announcement, the 15 finalists will be mentored by the MAS and "be given admission to the APIX Digital Currency Sandbox for rapid prototyping of digital currency solutions."

The sandbox environment will include more than than 100 APIs related to core banking and payments and will also take digital currency APIs from Mastercard. The finalists will now take the opportunity to pitch their CBDC solutions at Singapore FinTech Festival, which is planned for Nov. 8 to Nov. 12, 2022.

Related: Singapore grants first regulatory in-principle approval to crypto exchange

The Singaporean authorities have been making pro-crypto moves throughout 2022. The MAS recently gave an "in-principle blessing" to the Australian crypto substitution Independent Reserve, assuasive the house to "operate as a regulated provider for Digital Payment Token ('DPT') Services."

Singapore reportedly hosts a long list of 170 crypto exchange applicants, including Binance and Gemini, which are waiting for blessing to deport business within its jurisdictions.