| Joachim Samuelsson (CEO, Crunchfish)

| Sunil Karkera (Product Director, Digital Payments IDFC First Bank)

In today’s digital world, consumers expect seamless omnichannel banking and payment experiences, including the ability to make transactions offline. However, enabling secure approaches to offline payments presents many technological challenges. We aim to address some of these challenges in Session #22 of the CBDC Broadcast, with guests Joachim Samuelsson (Crunchfish) and Sunil Karkera (IDFC First Bank) joining FNA to explore cutting-edge approaches to offline payments and how partnerships between fintechs and banks can deliver innovative solutions.

Our guests shared insights into making offline payment systems scalable for mass adoption as we learned about the development and integration of such systems at an enterprise scale. Together, we also discussed considerations around consumer education and merchant onboarding when it comes to launching advanced payment technology.

The session covered:

• The use-cases and stability of offline payments
• Techniques for encrypting data and verifying transactions securely offline
• The technology behind offline transactions with the Digital Cash SKD to which IDFC First bank has access
• Feedback from pilot users and QR code technology for payments

| Danny Russell (Bank of England)
| Catherine Gu (Visa)

There are many challenges surrounding the development of CBDCs, from maximizing interoperability to encouraging public-private sector collaboration and driving consumer adoption.

Aiming to address these challenges is the BIS Innovation Hub London’s Project Rosalind- a joint experimentation with the Bank of England which aims to develop prototypes for an application programming interface that could best enable a Central Bank ledger to interact with private sector service providers to enable the safe provision of retail payments.

To offer further insight into Rosalind- named after British Scientist Rosalind Franklin and her work regarding DNA sequencing, guests Danny Russell (Bank of England) and Catherine Gu (VISA) joined FNA for Session #21 of the CBDC Broadcast.

In this session, we discussed the motivations behind the project and how it allows for further experimentation with CBDC design and interoperability, as well as the importance of public and private sector collaboration, drawing on the role of VISA and other private sector partnerships.

Guests Aniko Szombati, Chief Digital Officer Magyar Nemzeti Bank and Chris Ostrowski, Co-founder and CEO of SODA, joined FNA for Session #19 of the CBDC Broadcast, Testing DLT-based Central Bank Solutions.

In this session, we delved into the Central Bank of Hungary and SODA’s joint project on the use of digital solutions, including rCBDCs and NFTs, as we gained valuable insights into the pivotal role of public engagement and hands-on experiences in shaping the development and adoption of rCBDs by leveraging NFTs and coin collecting to improve the understanding and implementation of digital currencies.

Together, we explored how the Central Bank of Hungary is approaching adoption issues ahead of rolling out an rCBDC in an approach that cultivates the consumer use case for rCBDCs and prepares the public for the introduction of an rCBDC.

The Session Covered:

• The Central Bank of Hungary’s approach to launching an rCBDC and how it differs from the majority of current pilot projects
• The insights gained by implementing a blockchain-based ledger on its own infrastructure to test-drive digital solutions aimed at the public
• Lessons to share with other Central Banks considering the adoption of rCBDCs
• The public’s response to activities such as coin collecting and token swapping on the Money Museum mobile application and how it has developed and refined the rCBDC concept
• Whether the Central Bank of Hungary’s approach will foster the consumer use case for digital currencies and rCBDCs
• Potential future developments and trends in the realm of digital money, including rCBDcs and how they could shape the financial industry and society in Hungary and around the world.

| Dr Tony Richards, Chair CBDC Committee, Digital Finance CRC

| Sonja Davidovic, CBDC Lead, BIS Innovation Hub Singapore

In session #17 of the CBDC Broadcast, guests Dr Tony Richards and Sonja Davidovic offered valuable insight into their work exploring digital currencies and how they contribute to shaping the future of money.

We gained insight into the RBA’s collaboration with DFCRC exploring rCBDC use cases in Australia, while Sonja discussed the BISIH’s Project Nexus investigating the scalability and interoperability of digital money, as well as cross-border transactions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Throughout the session, we addressed the key considerations and challenges associated with CBDCs, including technological considerations, regulatory frameworks, financial stability, and user adoption. We also looked at the importance of international collaboration among central banks, payment system operators and technology providers.

In this session, we covered:

• The Reserve Bank of Australia’s collaboration with DFCRC exploring rCBDC use cases in Australia
• Overview of Project Nexus and the next steps for the scalability and interoperability of digital money in facilitating cross-border transactions beyond the Asia-Pacific Region
• The collaborative efforts and standardization measures necessary to ensure global CBDC compatibility
• The challenges and considerations to ensure financial stability, compliance with monetary policy and user adoption
• The importance of international cooperation and public-private partnerships in realizing the full potential CBDCs and other forms of digital money
• Other innovations currently being explored that will likely shape the future of money and payments

| Larissa de Lima, Oliver Wyman Forum
| Erica Salinas, Amazon Web Services

In previous sessions of The CBDC Broadcast, we focused on the many motivations for rolling out a CBDC, from achieving higher financial inclusion and higher transactional efficiency to preserving monetary sovereignty by compensating for the declining use of cash and by countering the entrance of new private forms of digital currencies.

Session #8 of the CBDC Broadcast featured guests Larissa De Lima (Oliver Wyman Forum) and Erica Salinas (Amazon Web Services), who joined FNA to discuss their joint report: Retail Central Bank Digital Currency: From Vision to Design. The report sets a framework to support policymakers in evaluating the interdependencies between policy and technological choices and highlights the importance of ensuring CBDC motivations, design principles and policy decisions are properly aligned.

The session covered:

• The principles that influence CBDC design choices
• Key policy trade-offs when designing a CBDC
• What services a Central Bank may offer if it positions itself close to identify-based services
• The role the private sector plays in designing a CBDC
• How central banks can make CBDCs as attractive as possible without threatening financial stability
• The choices around ledger technologies for CBDCs
• The risks associated with the implementation of a CBDC system
• Whether a G7 bank is likely to introduce a CBDC in the next five years

• A brief introduction to simulating payment systems
• The advantages of using an agent-based model for modelling complex adaptive systems
• FNA’s model for simulating CBDCs
• How FNA’s simulator works and how it can help organisations understand the impacts of introducing a CBDC
• The presentations also include a brief demonstration of the CBDC Simulator.

In this episode of FNA Talks, Kevin Gardiner, Managing Director and Global Investment Strategist at Rothschild & Co joins host Adam Csabay to highlight the key lessons from the Covid-19 crisis, assess its impact on the future of Fintech and explore the implications of CBDCs on the roles and responsibilities of Central Banks and Financial Services providers.

00:00: Introduction

01:19: To what extent has your business been affected by the COVID-19 crisis, and what key lessons would you highlight for our listeners?

04:05: Has Fintech- or innovative technology in general- provided any useful tools for tackling these disruptions?

05:13: Which key areas should fintech innovation focus on going forward?

08:12: In what ways will the financial industry be affected by developments related to CBDCs and the rise of digital money in general?

11:04: Can the Libras- or digital money issued by BigTechs- challenge Central Banks’ monopoly over monetary policy?