Central Bank Digital Currency: One, Two or None?
This Banque de France paper considers the motives, modalities, and possible consequences of retail and wholesale central bank digital currency issuance.
Cambodia's Central Bank Testing Digital Wallet to Ease Cross Border Payments
The National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) signed an agreement last week with Malaysia’s Maybank to determine how the banks’ respective digital payment platforms – Bakong and Maybank2u – can work in tandem to reduce often crippling remittance fees.
BOJ Kuroda: No talk at G20 of central banks issuing digital currencies
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said there was no talk among G20 finance leaders on the possibility of central banks issuing digital currencies, as part of efforts to enhance cross-border settlement services.
Moneyness: A free market case for CBDC?
"Let governments issue CBDC and compete for the attention of the fixed-price floating-rate investor, just like they already compete for the attention of the 30-year bond investor. This would remove an inefficient distortion, namely a subsidy to banks and a penalty on non-banks."
The Bahamas Sand Dollar Set to Be Released Before the End of 2019
The Central Bank [of the Bahamas] is exploring an early entry of Project Sand Dollar into Abaco. It will allow the Bank to test aspects of the emergency wireless communications features that would enable rapid financial services recovery; and to connect with many retail businesses early in their recovery process. The Sand Dollar infrastructure is being designed to connect with bank accounts, so that remote access to these facilities is also quickly re-enabled for deposits and withdrawals.
Retail CBDCs: The next payments frontier
A number of central banks around the world are seriously considering issuing retail central bank digital currency, with one likely to arrive in the next five years. That is the key finding from a report from IBM and OMFIF, a central banking think tank.
China Announces New Regulatory Authority to Certify Digital Payments, Blockchain Products
The People’s Bank of China will certify 11 types of financial technology hardware and software that are widely used for digital payment and blockchain services with its new verification system called the Certification of Fintech Products.
German banks call for digital euro
The Association of German Private Banks has presented a position paper advocating the establishment of a European digital currency and a common identity standard across the Eurozone.
23 Central Banks Divulge Their Digital Currency Requirements
CBDCs should be available offline and function wherever cash is currently used, with 73% of respondents requiring CBDCs to be available under all circumstances. More than 20% prefer decentralised systems to improve resilience.
German banks say: The economy needs a programmable digital euro!
The German private banks rate programmable digital money as an innovation with great potential that can be a key component in the next stage of the evolution of digitalisation.
PBoC's Digital Currency Research Institute signs a deal with telecoms giant Huawei for fintech research
The Digital Currency Research Institute of the People’s Bank of China (PBoC), the country’s central bank, has signed an agreement with telecommunications giant Huawei.
China's digital currency will kick off 'horse race': central bank official
The PBOC’s Mu Changchun said that China’s upcoming digital yuan is designed to substitute existing physical money. Its holders will not receive interest payments so that the digital currency will have no implications for inflation or monetary policy.
Central Bank Digital Currencies and Distributed Ledger Technology
This BBVA paper explores the current landscape around the use of DLT in different CBDC options, and extracts conclusions derived from the analysis of the current conditions and environment, including recent BigTech initiatives and regulatory position taking.
MAS Helps Develop Blockchain-based Prototype for Multi-Currency Payments
The Monetary Authority of Singapore has partnered with JP Morgan Chase and state-owned investment firm Temasek to build a blockchain-based prototype multi-currency payments network. This a part of the existing Project Ubin and will be developed as its fifth phase allowing other blockchains to connect and integrate seamlessly. The platform will also offer features including delivery-versus-payment settlement with private exchanges, conditional payments and escrow for trade, as well as payment commitments for trade finance.
Fake News: The Central Bank of Tunisia has not Launched a CBDC Pilot
Following rumors about the adoption by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) of a digital money solution and its commitment with a foreign company for the implementation of this solution, the BCT refutes all these allegations and unfounded information.
China's digital currency not seeking 'full control' of individuals' details - central bank official
China's proposed central bank digital currency is not a bid to gain full control of information belonging to the general public, according to the PBOC's Mu Changchun. The aim is to find the right balance between the ‘controllable anonymity’ and financial integrity requirements.
Tunisia's Central Bank Denies Reports Claiming It Issued an E-Dinar
In a sweeping rejection the Central Bank of Tunisia quashed “unfounded” rumors that it had become the first monetary authority to issue a central bank digital currency, asserting instead that an unaffiliated proof of concept project was taken out of context.
Turkey finalizing plans to launch state-backed digital currency
The Turkish government government has confirmed that it is testing a new blockchain-based version of the lira to be issued by the country’s central bank. https://decrypt.co/11109/turkey-finalizing-plans-launch-state-backed-digital-currency
China’s central bank says it is still researching and testing digital currency; launch reports are 'fraudulent'
The People's Bank of China has officially said that it is “still in the process of research and testing” its digital yuan, but that news reports stating that the central bank has issued its digital currency are “fraudulent.” (http://www.pbc.gov.cn/rmyh/105208/3919880/index.html)
Fintech and Central Bank Digital Currency in Australia
This paper by a Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) staffer sheds light on Australia’s fast real-time retail payments system, the New Payments Platform (NPP). It concludes that there is no strong case for the RBA to issue a retail central bank digital currency given that the NPP and the safer Next Generation Banknote series.
People's Bank of China (PBoC) Pilots Restrictions on Large-Scale Cash Transactions
The PBOC is looking to combat money-related criminal activities with a new restriction. The restriction, which will first be piloted for two years, will restrict large-scale cash transactions for three specific regions within the country – the Hebei Province, Zhejiang Province, and Shenzhen City. One expert believes that this decision is meant to help with the launch of the Renminbi token (RMB), which has yet to be released.
How important is it for a nation to have a payment system?
A working group at Norges Bank has looked more closely at the purpose and relevant forms of a central bank digital currency. The group finds that a central bank digital currency could function as a back-up solution in the event of a disruption in banks' payment systems. This contingency aspect may gain importance if banks' systems become more international. Moreover, a central bank digital currency may help to maintain competition in the payments market and offer the characteristics of legal tender.
“Controllable anonymity"
The PBOC’s imminent CBDC is going to have a feature called controllable anonymity. None of the news articles have made much of an effort to explain What that means. But we've actually known about this feature for quite some time. Back in 2018, the project's head, Yao Qian, provided a short description of it. It's not as Orwellian as it seems.
Designing Central Bank Digital Currencies
CBDC can be designed with attributes similar to cash or deposits, and can be interest-bearing: a CBDC that closely competes with deposits depresses bank credit and output, while a cash-like CBDC may lead to the disappearance of cash. Then, the optimal CBDC design trades off bank intermediation against the social value of maintaining diverse payment instruments. When network effects matter, an interest-bearing CBDC alleviates the central bank's tradeoff.
Venezuela to Pay Retirees and Pensioners Christmas Bonus in Petro
Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro announced that the Christmas bonus of the country’s retirees and pensioners will be paid to them in the national cryptocurrency Petro.
Fed Reserve Evaluating Digital Dollar But Benefits Still Unclear, Says Chairman
In a Nov. 19 letter responding to questions from lawmakers Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) and Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) in late September, Powell said the Fed has noted the efforts of other nations to explore a CBDC option, and that it continues to "carefully analyze the costs and benefits of pursuing such an initiative in the U.S."cb
European Central Bank confirms exploring digital Euro as retail, wholesale CBDC
An ECB official confirmed its work on a digital Euro. The bank has explored it as both a retail and wholesale CBDC, and noted it has experimented with blockchain.
Gov’t-Issued Digital Currencies Threaten Financial Stability, Says Swiss Central Banker
SNB board member Andréa Maechler told an audience in Zurich that private-sector digital currencies are better and less risky than nationally-issued versions. Furthermore, she added that a government-issued cryptocurrency could increase the risk of so-called "bank runs" – when a large number of customers withdraw funds from a bank based on concerns about the bank’s solvency.
Future of Money
SIX presents seven possible futures for money, in both its physical and digital form. The scenarios focus on Switzerland but continuing discussions will also take us beyond its borders. What is considered money, what form it takes, and how it is used, all look set to change dramatically in the near future.
Sweden Central Bank Lays Down its Six Steps to Successfully Implement Digital Currency
During a recent panel discussion, Stefan Ingves, the Governor of Sweden’s central bank, Sveriges Riksbank, laid out a six-step plan for the introduction of is central bank digital currency.