The Bank of International Settlements, a consortium that comprises most of the world’s top central banks, has announced it is working on a central bank digital currency pilot with Switzerland’s central bank.
“By the end of this year, we plan to publish our first wholesale CBDC proof-of-concept with the Swiss central bank,” said Benoît Cœuré, head of the BIS’s Innovation Hub.
Wholesale CBDCs are central bank digital currencies held by banks.
“Looking ahead, we plan to build on central banks’ experience with [the] cross-border use of CBDC, including with the [Hong Kong Monetary Authority] and the Bank of Thailand, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and with the Swiss National Bank,” Cœuré added.
Yesterday we reported on how Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell announced he is also preparing to roll out central bank digital currencies.
“Under a central bank digital currency, direct credits and debits could replace stimulus checks and taxes. It would be the vehicle through which modern monetary theory could be fully implemented – with the central bank becoming tax collector and funder of all government operations,” Stefan Gleason at Activistpost.com writes.
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