IMF Approach to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Capacity Development

[walterbell]

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/Policy-Papers/Issues/2023/04/12/IMF-Approach-to-Central-Bank-Digital-Currency-Capacity-Development-532177

[HPsquared]

I don't get what is really fundamentally new about CBDCs; currencies are already de facto digital.

[ssivark → HPsquared]

For starters, settlement becomes simpler. You’d be surprised at how archaic current settlement systems are.

The Reserve Bank of India’s concept note on CBDCs is actually a nice starting point to understand the motivations (see Chapter 3): https://web.archive.org/web/20221105065458/https://rbidocs.r...

[seunosewa → HPsquared]

Bypassing the banks. CBDCs are directly controlled by central banks.

[HPsquared → seunosewa]

Regular banks are already indirectly controlled by central banks.

[walterbell → HPsquared]

One possible difference: legal tender vs. IOU status.