Central Bank group to assess potential cases for central bank digital currencies

In a press release issued today, the Bank of England announced it would be forming a group along with The Bank of Canada, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Sveriges Riksbank, the Swiss National Bank and the Bank for International Settlements to assess potential use cases for central bank digital currency (CBDC). The group will be co-chaired by Benoît Cœuré, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub, and Jon Cunliffe, Deputy Governor of the Bank of England and Chair of the CPMI.

Why it matters:

• There are numerous central bank digital currency projects in the works with China’s CBDC dubbed “DCEP” set to launch sometime early this year. Announcements of such projects have exploded since the launch of Libra with some explicitly stating that Libra catalyzed them to move.
• The group consists of nearly all of the most important central banks in the world and is a sign of a more globally coordinated effort to get smart on central bank digital currency.