Israeli policymakers have broadened the scope of their research into launching a central bank digital currency (CBDC) as the Bank of Israel scrambles to avoid falling behind other countries. As Bloomberg News reported Thursday (Jan. 13), the bank has begun talking about the risks and...
For central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), pilots, pilots everywhere — and some actual launches, too. It’s no surprise that central banks, increasingly, have been following China’s progress in debuting a digital yuan and have been pivoting toward launching CBDCs of their own. We’re seeing a...
The Economic Affairs Committee at the U.K. House of Lords published a report on January 13 casting doubts about the benefits of creating a retail Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the U.K. and sending a message to the Bank of England (BoE) that any...
Visa is collaborating with the blockchain software company ConsenSys to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot program to test retail applications like cards and wallets, Bloomberg reported on Thursday (Jan. 13). Both companies will first hold talks with an estimated 30 central banks...
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the long-awaited digital currency report will be out “in the coming weeks.” Again. It’s a promise that Powell has made before. Due to be released last summer, Powell on Sept. 22 said the report — which is expected to...
China’s largest messaging app says it will begin accepting the country’s digital yuan. According to media reports Thursday (Jan. 6), Tencent Holdings’ WeChat, which numbers among China’s most popular payments platforms, says it will begin accepting digital yuan payments through WeChat Pay, its digital wallet. ...
As central banks examine digital currencies (CBDCs) and the private sector delves ever further into stablecoins, convergence and collaboration may be overarching themes of 2022 and beyond. To that end, the Central Bank of Bahrain said this week that it completed a test of the...
Defense, it is said, is the best offense. It’s no surprise, then, that central banks have been busy playing a bit of catch-up, moving more aggressively to develop and deploy central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) across the globe. In doing so, the banks are playing...
The Bank of Mexico wants to have its own digital currency circulating sometime in the next two years, in an effort to foster financial inclusion in a cash-heavy country, according to published reports. The president of Mexico’s central bank, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said on...
