Three-quarters of Central Banks Eye CBDC Launching

PwC shows in their recent report that three-quarters of central banks are considering or have already launched a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

The second annual Global CBDC Index report that was released on Monday measures any central bank’s level of maturity when it comes to developing its own digital currency. An overview of stable coins was also included in this report for the first time.

A blockchain and crypto specialist from PwC, Haydn Jones, stated in this report that “over 80% of central banks are considering launching a CBDC or have already done so”.

The report also ranked both retail CBDCs, which are CBDCs that can be used by the general public, and wholesale CBDCs, which can be used by financial institutions, out of a hundred. The report showed that retail CBDCs have a much greater level of maturity in comparison to wholesale CBDCs.

Nigeria’s “eNaira”  got a score of 95, which makes it the most developed across both the retail and wholesale categories.

With regards to the retail category, the Bahamas stood out as they are the first country to ever launch a CBDC – The Sand Dollar. In Jamaica the Jam-Dex is expected to launch this year, and Thailand is in the process of developing and testing their own CBDC.

Thailand and Hong Kong topped the wholesale category with their joint mBridge project that is focussed on cross-border payments. Singapore and France also received high scores in this category for their ongoing exploration and development of CBDC projects.

According to Jones  “CBDC research, testing and implementation will intensify in 2022”.