Indian startup Mintoak, backed by global payments giant PayPal Holdings Inc. ( PYPL ) has acquired fintech player Digiledge, marking the first acquisition in the country’s developing central bank digital currency space.

What Happened: Mintoak, a provider of merchant payment services, has finalized the purchase of Digiledge, a firm specializing in CBDC and bill payment services, for around $3.5 million. Reuters reported Monday.

The Reserve Bank of India, India’s central bank, launched a pilot for the e-rupee, a digital counterpart to physical currency, in Dec. 2022. Some of the biggest fintech players in the country, including Alphabet Inc. ( GOOG ) -backed Google Pay, Walmart Inc ( WMT ). -backed PhonePe, and AmazonPay have expressed interest in joining the pilot project.

This acquisition comes at a time when the global stance on CBDCs is divided. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell  has indicated that the U.S. central bank won’t develop a central bank digital currency under his watch during his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

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