BFC Bulletins Monthly News Digest
A new working paper from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) examined the state of various central bank digital currency (CBDC) projects around the world to see what their statuses are. Interestingly, 3 countries (Ecuador, Ukraine and Uruguay) have already completed retail CBDC pilots, and 6 (the Bahamas, Cambodia, China, the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, South Korea and Sweden) have pilots still ongoing. At the same time, 18 central banks have published research on retail CBDCs, and another 13 have announced research or development work on wholesale CBDCs.
In general, retail CBDC projects are more advanced in jurisdictions with high innovation capacity and larger informal economies. Wholesale CBDC projects, on the other hand, are more advanced in economies that have higher financial development, something that could reflect a focus on increasing the efficiency of wholesale settlements.
