CBDC
Why do we need another Euro, another Dollar?

EXPERT ROUNDTABLE WEBINAR
with global central banks

22 June 2021 | 8-930 CET | 2-3.30 SGT

ROUNDTABLE EXPERT WEBINAR with global central banks

Tuesday 22 June 2021 | 8.00 – 09.30 AM CET / 14.00 – 15.30 SGT

Join us for this special debate with Central Bankers and key experts from around the world to highlight why we should create CBDC’s.

The debate about central banks issuing not only physical notes and coins but now also a digital form of cash is raging across the world. Some see it as a way of answering the threat from Facebook’s Libra/Diem, some see it as a push towards more digitization in a cash-less world.

Why do central banks feel they may need to issue a digital currency ? In most parts of the world we are a long way from being cashless and we are already paying digitally in all sorts of ways. Money directly from central banks will put pressure on commercial banks’ so how can they be motivated to distribute the CBDCs to their customers ?

Isn’t there really more than enough digitization and innovation going on in payments already and do we really need yet another form of our fiat currency ?

In the meantime, the central banks of China, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong and Thailand have joined in a digital currency initiative using blockchain for cross-border payments. Named: “the Multiple Central Bank Currency Bridge” (m-CBDC Bridge). The project is a collaboration conceived by the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements (BIS) with the HongKong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the Bank of Thailand (BoT).

According to the BIS, the central banks will deploy distributed ledger technology (DLT) to develop a proof-of-concept prototype with the aim of making regulation-heavy foreign exchange payments cheaper and more efficient. Some analysts say m-CBDC Bridge may be even seen as a challenge to the SWIFT, which currently brokers the bulk of global foreign currency transactions.

Meanwhile, one of the pillars of the Eurosystem, the German Bundesbank, has negated the need for a Central Bank Digital Currency – arguing that a distributed ledger, that they deployed successfully for securities after working on it for six years, may be a better approach.

So there is still quite some confusion and debate on the topic and a real need to shed some light.

 

Some key point for debate are:

  • – Is there a real need for CBDCs? What problem does CBDC solve?
  • – What will be the impact on financial stability and sovereignty? E.g.: could a Digital Yuan secure more grip on the global financial system for China? Could a digital Euro impact interest rates in Europe and expand its use a global reserve currency ?
  • – How would CBDCs impact private, possibly more efficient, “stable-coins” backed by a gold or state-backed asset and decentralized digital currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum?
  • – How to view the trend of hard line regulations against cryptocurrency to protect against excessive price volatility and possible technology-giant dominance ?
  • – Will CBDC become legal tender? How will uses and merchants handle having two kinds of fiat (cash & CBDC) in their wallets ?
  • – How to avoid creating another silo-type platform but instead secure mutually compatible platforms to yield efficient global cross-border remittance payments.

 

Share the expertise with our Global Top Expert Panel

We are happy to introduce a true expert level panel to introduce the CBDC challenges and discuss a.o. above topics and of course your key questions during the 1,5 hour debate.

 

Harry Smorenberg

Moderator / APC Expert Council – Amsterdam
>>

Michael Salmony

Executive Advisor equens Worldline SE >>

Prof Wilko Bolt

Professor of Payment Systems & Senior Economist at the Dutch Central Bank >>

Daniel McLean

Daniel Mclean

Principal Market Infrastructure Expert for Payments Policy | European Central Bank >>

Hiromi Yamaoka

Member of the Board Future Corporation – Head Future Institute of Research (Former Director-General, Payment and Settlement Systems Dept., Bank of Japan) | Tokyo