Projects of public digital currencies enjoy high priority among central banks. In the emerging markets in particular, these are being pushed forward – for a specific reason.
A full 86 percent of central banks surveyed by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) are currently engaged in studies or concrete projects for the introduction of a digital central bank currency (a so-called CBDC), the BIS writes on a survey published on Thursday. Compared to the first CBDC survey in 2017, this represents an increase of one-third. 65 central banks participated in the survey.
In other words, digital central bank currencies have «arrived». However, the intensive research and concrete project work do not mean that the world will soon have access to a variety of digital currencies, the authors noted. In fact, as many as 60 percent of central banks say that the introduction of such a currency is unlikely in the near or medium future.
Access to Financial Services
Nevertheless, one bank has already put its money where its mouth is. As finews.com reported, the Central Bank of the Bahamas launched the so-called Sand Dollar last year for its 390,000 inhabitants. However, the motivations and the size of both the country and its economy exemplify the different developments the various projects are taking.
What is particularly important for the Bahamas is better access to financial services for segments of the population that have had little access to date – a key goal of the modernization strategy is to provide the entire population with digital payment systems, as the Central Bank of the Bahamas emphasized.
