#18: rCBDCs: Real Potential or FOMO?

CBDC Broadcast

22 Jun

29th June 2023

With:

| Samuel Eddie Mogensen (Danmarks Nationalbank)

| Michal Vodrážka (Czech National Bank)

In this thought-provoking session, FNA hosts Samuel Eddie Mogensen (Danmarks Nationalbank) and Michal Vodrážka (Czech National Bank) to discuss the unconventional stance of two jurisdictions that currently see no immediate need to issue a retail CBDC. While much of the world moves toward pilots, Denmark and the Czech Republic offer a sobering counter-perspective.

The discussion centers on the "Agnostic Approach": if a country already possesses a highly efficient, near-instant, and deeply digitized private payment ecosystem (like those in Denmark and Czechia), what marginal value does a retail CBDC actually add? Our guests dissect whether the risks to financial stability and the potential for bank disintermediation outweigh the theoretical benefits of a digital version of cash.

Key Discussion Points:

The "Utility Gap": Assessing why advanced digital economies may find fewer use cases for rCBDCs compared to less developed markets.
Preserving Stability: The strategic rationale for staying agnostic to avoid unnecessary risks to the commercial banking sector.
Modernizing the Status Quo: How existing infrastructures (like Denmark’s Kronos2 or the Czech CERTIS) are being upgraded as a more pragmatic alternative to a full CBDC.
Beyond FOMO: Understanding the geopolitical and economic pressures that drive CBDC research, and why "waiting and seeing" can be a valid policy choice.
The Role of Regulation: Why robust regulation of existing digital payments and stablecoins might be more urgent than issuing a new sovereign currency.

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