Global | The US considers the challenges and potential of cryptoassets
With the aim of advancing the regulation and orderly development of the use of cryptoassets, President Biden has asked various federal agencies to study those markets in order to ensure comprehensive and coordinated action.
Europe | Digital euro, questions in search of answers
How would a digital euro work? What value would it bring when today I can already pay/charge for everything using my mobile, apps and favorite sites? Would it entail risks? So far these simple questions have not met straightforward answers, but they have sparked an extensive economic, political and technological debate.
Digital money has been around for some time: the deposits we hold in banks, and in turn the reserves banks hold in central banks, consist of money that for decades has been registered and operated digitally. However, some concern has now arisen about the so-called "digital currencies".
The BIS, the ECB and the BoJ have published guidelines on the development of potential digital currencies. Monetary authorities are wary of a foreign—or poorly regulated—digital currency suddenly dominating the domestic means of payment. A CBDC would be one of the possible solutions to confront such a threat.
Libra, Facebook's proposed global digital currency, has disappointed, with several partners abandoning the initiative and severe rejection by countless authorities on both sides of the Atlantic.
Libra, a digital currency that is still surrounded by questions
The announcement of the launch of Libra, the digital currency that Facebook plans to implement, has sparked interest, concern and, above all, great uncertainty about its viability as a business and its financial and social impact.
Central Bank digital currencies: features, options, pros and cons
The emergence of cryptocurrencies is opening the way to Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). This paper highlights the pros and cons of issuing CBDCs under four different variants: from the more modest proposals to the most ambitious ones where there could be a serious disruption in financial intermediation.
Central banks-issued digital currencies: a challenge to the financial system
Digital currencies, and more specifically, the so-called cryptocurrencies (currencies issued and administered by decentralised networks using cryptographic protocols), such as Bitcoin, first emerged almost a decade ago.