DFC

94% of the 86 central banks surveyed (between October 2023 and January 2024) by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) are exploring central bank digital currency (CBDC). 54% are experimenting with proofs of concept and 31% are running a pilot. Around 30% of central banks focus on retail CBDCs only and 2% are working on wholesale CBDCs only, and it is more likely that central banks will issue a wholesale CBDC within the next six years than retail CBDC. More emerging market (EMDE) central banks are likely to issue a retail CBDC on a distributed ledger than advanced economy (AE) central banks, perhaps reflecting a willingness to leapfrog moving from legacy systems to cutting-edge technologies.

Also, this year the survey also provides insight into the use of stablecoins for payments and regulatory approaches to crypto-assets across the globe. On crypto, the survey showed that stablecoins are hardly used for payments outside the crypto ecosystem, apart from some use by niche groups for remittances and retail payments.. ore than 60% of responding jurisdictions currently have or are developing a regulatory framework for stablecoins and other crypto-assets. Most of these jurisdictions opted for or are developing bespoke regulation (48%), as the opportunities, risks and/or features of crypto-assets would not neatly fit within their existing regulatory frameworks.