Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are the flavor of the year and probably that of the decade. Central banks all over the world are trying to digitize, to create a digital equivalent of cash.
A properly designed CBDC can seamlessly function in both the wholesale and retail contexts. The main difference between these are the size and volume of transactions. CBDCs are studied, piloted and even rolled out in small and large countries. In smaller countries the central banks do not have the capability to create and roll out infrastructure that support CBDCs.
These run the gamut from core capabilities to the application level interfaces like digital wallets and ways to integrate into existing payment infrastructure. Of course, cross border flows are even more complicated. This is the reason why CBDCs like the Sand Dollar, the Bakong and DXCD are created by private enterprises on behalf of the central banks. This has resulted in a patchwork of implementations that are not interoperable, for cross border flows. Some of the work in integrating to legacy systems has started with the Island Pay CBDC credit card for the Sand Dollar supported by Mastercard MA -0.7%.
