The latest report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) revealed that 94 percent of 86 central banks are considering a CBDC soon.
While some United States regulators have vehemently opposed the issuance of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) due to privacy reasons, a new study shows the majority of global central banks are exploring the new technology. More global central banks are seeking ways to increase their seigniorage through the use of distributed ledger and blockchain technologies.
Moreover, the use of blockchain technology has proved environmentally friendly in addition to the efficiency of lowered transaction costs. However, some have argued that a CBDC is merely a surveillance tool for governments, and will limit users’ means of transacting.
As a result, the CBDC’s opponents have argued that private sectors should be allowed to develop stablecoins on both public and private chains to ensure further democracy.
BIS Report on CBDC Developments
According to a report from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), an umbrella organization encompassing more than 50 global central banks, 94 percent of the 86 central banks surveyed are exploring CBDC developments. The recent BIS survey was conducted between October 2023 and January 2024.
The last time the bank conducted a similar survey in 2021, the report revealed that 90 of the 81 central banks were exploring digitizing their respective national currencies.
Notably, the BIS report indicated that the respective banks are more likely to issue a wholesale CBDC for financial institutions instead of a retail CBDC.
“For retail CBDCs, more than half of central banks are considering holding limits, interoperability, offline options, and zero remuneration,” the BIS report noted.
Market Picture
As Coinspeaker previously reported, the Bank for International Settlements is already exploring a wholesale CBDC to enable seamless forex transactions between different currencies. Dubbed project Rialto, BIS has been working together with global central banks in close collaboration with the Singapore Center to ensure an efficient CBDC.
According to the BIS recent report, stablecoins are rarely used outside the crypto ecosystem, thus not favorable for mainstream payments. As a result, several countries led by China, Nigeria, and the Bahamas have already rolled out their specific CBDCs.
The adoption of global CBDCs amid the development of private stablecoins will experience significant challenges due to surveillance issues. While most governments have cracked down on privacy-centric coins, the adoption of logarithmic stablecoins led by DAI has gained significant traction.
According to the latest crypto market data, DAI stablecoins have a market capitalization of about $5.2 billion and a daily average traded volume of around $344 million.
Nonetheless, some jurisdictions have restricted the use of logarithmic stablecoins following the collapse of Terra Luna UST in early 2022, which wiped out over $30 billion. Already, the US SEC and Terra Luna have finalized a settlement of around $4.4 billion following the Terra Luna collapse.
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