The Central Bank of Brazil (CBB) is still studying society’s possible need for a central bank digital currency (CBDC), Fabio Araujo, a representative of the institution, told a Senate committee.
Araujo stated that the CBB’s goal is to clarify what demands the society presents for Digital Real before moving to the testing phase with proof of concept and innovation laboratory that should take place throughout 2022.
While the CBB is still in the research phase of a hypothetical Digital Real, it issued general guidelines that such a currency must follow in May, showing there is real interest in the subject
The CBB is still having a meeting with different parties that could help to design the Digital Real project.
Senator Cunha, the senator that proposed the meeting, stated that digital currency use was a necessary discussion due to the lack of information on the subject.
The CBB’s stance on the issue is that crypto actives are speculative assets and bring high risk to individuals’ portfolios, but CBDCs are not to be confused with crypto actives.
Brazil is at the vanguard of central bank digital currency investigation in Latin America, where central banks don’t seem to be too interested in the issue just yet.