ZB Academy：Governments around the world are paying more and more attention to CBDC
As cryptocurrency has attracted more and more attention among investors, governments around the world have paid more and more attention to this blockchain product, and more and more governments have begun to study their own central bank digital currency (CBDC). Among them, many central banks said that the spread of COVID-19 is also a driving force for people’s growing interest in CBDC.
According to a news released by the Bank of Russia last Friday, there are 26 central bank governors meeting in Russia to discuss the financial consequences of the epidemic. The “Central Bank Governors Club”, which includes institutions from Central Asia, the Black Sea region and the Balkans, stated that the outbreak and spread of the epidemic has brought increased attention to e-commerce and digital settlement technologies. This is one of the reasons why financial regulators are becoming more and more interested in CBDC.
Looking back over the past month, we can find that many countries have announced their CBDC plans or related news.
On October 12, the governor of the Bank of Japan Haruhiko Kuroda said that the Bank of Japan will begin testing CBDC next spring. These pilot experiments will explore and determine the requirements and principles of digital yen issuance. In addition, Kuroda also made it clear that the Bank of Japan is ready to implement more loose monetary measures and still has tools available to eliminate the impact of COVID-9 on the economy.
On October 21, the Central Bank of the Bahamas officially issued its own digital currency, which was named the Sand dollar. As the digital version of the Bahamian dollar, the sand dollar is also the world’s first officially issued CBDC. According to the FAQ of the Central Bank of the Bahamas, the project aims to bring more inclusive access to regulated payments and other financial services.
On October 23, the Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina stated at an online press conference that the Bank of Russia may pilot its own CBDC by the end of 2021. Nabiullina said that the Central Bank of Russia believes that this project is very promising and that it conforms to the concept of a digital economy (currently under construction in Russia). The Bank of Russia hopes to weigh the pros and cons before carrying out this project and conduct some pilot experiments. The pilots will be carried out in a limited user base and may be realized by the end of next year.
On October 28, CinsenSys, the company that developed Ethereum and provided funding for ecosystem startups, also announced that it would help Societe Generale in a CBDC study. They will provide technology and expertise for the CBDC pilot work.
On October 29, the Governor of the Bank of Canada stated that the digital dollar project had entered the trial phase. According to an interview with Reuters, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem said that his institution is working with G7 member states to develop a CBDC plan.
On November 1, the Bank of Australia announced that it will cooperate with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Perpetual and ConsenSys to explore the possible uses and impact of the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) wholesale CBDC.
The above is only the news about CBDC released by governments around the world in the past month. In addition, countries such as China and Singapore have announced their respective CBDC news earlier. An earlier report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that CBDC may benefit countries that wish to exercise greater control over their monetary policy.
As of press time, according to ZB.com’s official market data, Bitcoin is currently quoted at US$15,525, a 24-hour increase of 4.49%, and a 24-hour maximum price of US$15,645.
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ZB Group was founded in 2012 with the goal of providing leadership to the blockchain development space and today manages a network that includes digital assets exchanges, wallets, capital ventures, research institutes, and media. The Group’s flagship platform is ZB.com, the industry leading digital asset exchange. The platform launched in early 2013 and boasts one of the world’s largest trading communities.
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