- CBDCs make it to the top of the list at a meeting of the world’s central bank governors hosted by Russia.
- Governors call for an investigation of merits and impacts on the digital economy as COVID-19 pandemic forces things online.
- Multiple central banks are already in the development stage of their own CBDCs.
Central bank governors from accross the world meet to discuss the merits and implication of CBDCs.
As COVID-19 takes its toll on the world’s economies, governments, central banks, and financial institutions across the world are examining the vulnerabilities that can lead to crises like the current one.
A recently held meeting of the Central Bank Governor’s Club, hosted by Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina, had this topic in focus.
The meeting comprised the governors of 26 central banks worldwide, who noted the expansion of digital economies and the potential impact digital currencies like Bitcoin or Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) could have on the digital economy’s future.
At the meeting, the governors discussed how they could be more proactive in investigating the merits and impact of digital currencies and what a regulatory framework may look like. They also discussed the impact of CBDCs on monetary policy and the need to develop procedures to mitigate cyber-risks.
As previously reported, several central banks worldwide have already started exploring the use of or developing CBDCs. China’s ‘digital yuan’ has had a successful pilot, carrying out over 4 million transactions worth $299 million since it was launched earlier this year.
Closer to home, the European Central Bank just announced a public survey, asking Europeans how they would use a proposed ‘digital euro’.
Whilst there is still a long way to go, the fact that CBDCs are being discussed at the top levels of the financial world shows how far the idea of digital currency has come since the inception of Bitcoins.
