Cash is on its Way Out!

The new programable money CBDC are tokens on central ledger that are new digital form of central bank money. In practice CBDC would be widely available to the public and used as a digital currencies as a gateway to cashless society, which means the good old cash is on its way out.

It was expected that many of the central banks will explore ways to launch CBDC’s, but BIS survey in May 2022 revealed that 90 central banks are now already experimenting and developing them.

Swedish central banker Cecilia Skingsley, stated in June:

“I see it as an evolution of the central bank role, rather than a revolution… I think cash will disappear as a payment method, that’s for sure! ”

The central banks believe CBDCs can solve the key pain points such as limited operating hours and lengthy procedures for payments.

In October, BIS announced that several banks got involved in the mBridge project, a multi-CBDC platform for international payments. The project has been successful and saw 164 transactions worth nearly $22 million in real-value cross-border payments through a purpose-built multi-CBDC platform – mBridge. Apparently, 20 commercial banks participated in the project, which lasted a little over a month.

“It took place from 15 August to 23 September on the mBridge Ledger, a custom-developed #DLT platform. The 20 participating commercial banks used the platform to settle different kinds of payments for corporate customers, focusing on cross-border trade. Over $12 million in value was issued onto the platform facilitating over 160 cross-border payments and FX transactions totaling more than $22 million in value,” BIS stated.

Tayo Tunyathon from Bank of Thailand, was also part of the project, termed it the world’s first pilot using real value CBDC for cross-border trade settlements. She said in a statement:
“Proud to have been a part of the working team in making this historic milestone! We are only just beginning to see the possibilities of CBDC in bridging borders and facilitating trade/economic growth.”

BIS will release a detailed report covering the policy, and other regulatory aspects of its mBridge project during Hong Kong Fintech (31 October- 4 November 2022). The Switzerland-based bank of central banks will also reveal a roadmap for the new development.

CBDC is a profoundly dangerous tool that threatens consumer privacy and security as well as the continued innovation of the digital asset market.

There are currently over 90 countries worldwide that are examining, developing, or implementing a form of CBDC.

About BIS

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution offering banking services for national central banks and a forum for discussing monetary and regulatory policies. BIS was founded in 1930 and is owned by 63 central banks, representing countries from around the world that together account for about 95% of world GDP. The head office of BIS is in Basel, Switzerland.