The Bank for International Settlements starts backing central bank digital currencies after it gave full approval to the development of the CBDCs because they are aiming to modernize finance as we can see more in our latest cryptocurrency news today.
The BIS which is often called a central bank to the world’s central banks is set to recommendations as to how the CBDC should be. It estimated that more than 56 central banks and monetary authorities around the world are looking at digitizing their currencies as commerce shifts online. The momentum came as the usage of physical cash fell in the wake of online e-commerce portals and pandemic-induced lockdowns so the bankers are now seeing decentralized currencies like BTC and Big Tech as a threat especially with companies like Facebook and Diem or known as Libra. Now, the Bank for International Settlements starts backing up the CBDCs.
The head of innovation at BIS Benoit Coeure warned that without the central bank’s digital currencies, digital money could become increasingly dominated by big tech firms. He added:
“That is a place where you don’t want to be, where governments don’t want to be.”
According to the reports, the Bahamas became the first country to launch a general purpose CBDC or the Sand Dollar as it is commonly called. China is now on its way to becoming the second. The Chinese authorities handed out $6.2 million in digital currency to the citizens of Beijing for a trial of the digital currency and electronic payments platform. The Beijing Local Financial Supervision and Administrative Bureau allowed for the citizens to apply for the handout by using banking applications. The giveaway was a part of the lottery systems using the “red packets” valued at 200 yuan apiece.
The southwestern city of Chengdu handed out about 40 million yuan in digital currency in February this year and Shenzhen completed a digital currency trial back in October 2020. China has more plans to expand the trials with foreign visitors at the 2022 Bejing Winter Olympics. China continues on and governments in the West are dragging their feet over the regulatory woes so earlier this month, the Republican Maxine Waters announced a task force on the Financial Technology that will study CBDCs and cryptocurrencies and their impact on the US economy.
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