Report: The Number of Countries Now Exploring CBDCs
The Atlantic Council reported that 134 countries, representing 98% of the global economy, are exploring Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), a sharp rise from 35 in 2020.
What’s the significance: The rise of global Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiatives highlights a significant shift towards modernizing financial systems, improving transaction efficiency, and addressing cross-border payment challenges.
Key details:
- China’s digital yuan (e-CNY) leads global efforts, with transaction volumes reaching $986 billion by June 2024.
- 66 nations have progressed in CBDC development.
- 44 countries, including Australia and Singapore, are running pilot programs.
- The Bahamas, Jamaica, and Nigeria have already launched CBDCs.
- BRICS nations are testing CBDCs as part of an alternative payment system to the dollar.
- More details from the Atlantic Council.
How it works: CBDCs allow central banks to digitize national currencies, enabling more efficient and secure transactions, especially cross-border.
- Read more: Wholesale CBDC vs Retail CBDC
World Economic Forum: In April, a report from the World Economic forum revealed that 98% of central banks are exploring central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
- A major challenge identified is “disparate settlement cycles” in cross-border transactions, where wCBDCs could enable near 24/7 global settlement operations.
PH CBDC: The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), led by Governor Eli Remolona Jr., plans to issue a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) by 2029 under Project Agila.
- The initiative is aimed at modernizing the Philippines’ large-value payment system and improving transaction efficiency.
- Timeline:
- 2022: Project Agila launched.
- 2023: Hyperledger Fabric chosen.
- 2024: Target completion of pilot by Q4.
- 2029: Target launch.
- Current Phase: Proof-of-concept, testing distributed ledger technology and tokenization.
What to watch: : As CBDC initiatives grow, cross-border projects like mBridge and the US’s involvement in Project Agorá could reshape international financial systems.
What’s next: Cross-border CBDC projects like mBridge and the USA’s participation in Project Agorá could transform global financial systems.
Worth reading: As per the last article from BitPinas, 131 countries were exploring or have developed CBDCs as of September 2023, with 11 having fully launched their systems.
This article is published on BitPinas: Report: The Number of Countries Now Exploring CBDCs
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