CBDC becoming essential to central banks’ strategies

Towards the end of last year, a clear trend had emerged in finance: a number of Asian countries had not only shown an interest in central bank digital currency (CBDC); they were keen to realise it.

Of particular interest to financial institutions has been “wholesale CBDC” which covers digitised central bank liabilities involving large, interbank transactions. Such transactions are usually the preserve of select financial bodies. A grand breach in tradition is now very much in the offing.

According to a Carnegie Endowment for International Peace report,