Behind the Scenes of Central Bank Digital Currency

  • Source: imf.org

Treliant Takeaway:

Central banks are increasingly considering whether to issue digital currencies to the general public, known as retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Most IMF member countries are actively evaluating CBDCs, with only a few having issued CBDCs or undertaken extensive pilots or tests. At Treliant, we offer many services to help guide our clients in this changing landscape. These include designing, developing, and implementing cryptocurrency compliance frameworks, AML risk assessments and rules obligations, and KYC (CDD/EDD) frameworks. We also provide transaction monitoring gap assessments and remediation and outsourcing risk governance evaluations.

Highlights:

The IMF published its paper on CBDC February 9, 2022 that studies six advanced CBDC projects covering the jurisdictions of the Bahamas, Canada, China, ECCU (Eastern Caribbean Currency Union), Sweden and Uruguay.

The research paper explores and reviews the following key themes:

  • CBDC policy goals
  • Operational models of CBDC, (i.e., who issues and distributes CBDC)
  • Role of the central bank and private sector in the CBDC issuance
  • Design features of CBDC to mitigate risks in cross-border payments – financial stability and privacy concerns are paramount to CBDC design.
  • Legal foundations of CBDC and technological options available in each jurisdiction
  • Process of exploring and testing CBDC such as organizational choices and staffing