CBDC Broadcast #9 - What CBDC features will drive consumers’ and merchants’ adoption?

About this Episode

With:

| John Velissarios, Accenture
| Raoul Herborg, Giesecke + Devrient

CBDC is a very particular product. An extremely successful rollout, with massive adoption, could affect financial stability as deposits could migrate to CBDCs. On the other hand, poor adoption could mean a reputational risk event for the central bank. Therefore, unlike most central bank products, it looks like CBDC design should be user-oriented, with consumers and merchants as the main users and commercial banks as distributors. This means that before CBDCs are rolled out, there has to be a design phase that studies under which design options the CBDC will be used will be convenient, as well as safe, reliable, and efficient.

Guests John Velissarios (Accenture/DEA/DDP) and Raoul Herborg (Giesecke + Devrient) joined FNA for session #9 of The CBDC Broadcast as we discussed how some design options could shape the rollout and adoption of CBDCs. The session played close attention to the particular balance CBDCs must achieve to be successful, that is, being effectively adopted without jeopardizing the stability of the financial system.

The session covered:

• How to achieve a digital version of cash to provide an instant and secure payment option for everyone, everywhere
• The obstacles in making CBDCs accessible to all groups of society and factors considered to ensure inclusivity during the design and pilot phases
• Whether central banks should develop global standards to ensure interoperability between jurisdictions
• CBDCs and offline payment capabilities
• Whether banked people with easy access to commercial bank money feel the need to hold and use a CBDC balance