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Journal Article
Digital Currency, Digital Payments, and the 'Last Mile' to the Unbanked
Digital forms of payment are either not accessible or highly costly for unbanked consumers. This is because these forms of payment must be "funded" by some source of money, such as cash or a bank account. That creates the "last-mile" problem for the unbanked. This article examines various solutions for the funding problem that have been proposed in the literature, by regulators, and in bills submitted to Congress.
Briefing
Motives Matter: Examining Potential Tension in Central Bank Digital Currency Designs
As a new central bank liability, central bank digital currency (CBDC) has the potential to address various issues within current payments and financial systems. The motivation behind a CBDC will determine how it is designed; a CBDC designed to achieve one goal, such as broader financial inclusion, may have difficulty achieving other objectives.
Journal Article
Should the United States Issue a Central Bank Digital Currency? Lessons from Abroad
If the web 3.0 requires a public ledger–based payments platform, central bank digital currency (CBDC) is unlikely to provide the digital currency needed to fuel the smart contracts of tomorrow. This payments dilemma can be solved by a hybrid digital currency that includes a new type of bank deposit as well as regulated private stablecoins, both of which clear and settle on a next-generation public ledger created and managed as a joint venture between banks and private stablecoin issuers. With this payments platform under Federal Reserve oversight, there would be no need for the Federal ...
Briefing
Inclusion by Design: Crafting a Central Bank Digital Currency to Reach All Americans
One motivation for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is financial inclusion—bringing unbanked Americans into the payments system. To meet this goal, a CBDC would have to be designed to meet the specific needs of the diverse unbanked population.
Briefing
How Did We Get Here? From Observing Private Currencies to Exploring Central Bank Digital Currency
The emergence of private digital currencies has inspired discussion over the possibility of central bank-issued digital currencies. While privately issued currencies are not new, the rise of digital currencies has highlighted both concerns and opportunities for central banks.
Journal Article
Technological Change and Central Banking
The decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) represents a radically new way to manage databases. Since money and payments are all about managing databases and since banks play a central role in money and payments, DAO-based money and payments systems are potentially a disruptive force in the banking system—which includes central banks. One would normally expect regulatory frameworks to evolve with a changing technological landscape. However, the decentralized governance structure characteristic of DAOs renders it near impossible to regulate these entities directly—a property that makes ...
Discussion Paper
Central Banks and Digital Currencies
Recent developments in payments technology raise important questions about the role of central banks either in providing a digital currency themselves or in supporting the development of digital currencies by private actors, as some authors of this post have discussed in a recent IMF blog post. In this post, we consider two ways a central bank could choose to become involved with digital currencies and discuss some implications of these potential choices.