Sibos 2023: Can CBDC replace cash?

finextra.com:

In his opening statement, Woolard highlighted that while the cryptocurrency world had been dominated by private activity, the launch of Libra shifted focus and central banks are now coming to the party. Whether they are welcome or not is another question.

Woolard added: “Central banks are wrestling with public policy questions, not only about privacy, but also about monetary policy and what’s going to happen about individuals who may be more vulnerable or excluded from society.”

There is a lot happening in this space, and the distinguished panel spoke about moving beyond the hype, the various types of digital currencies being used today and how market participants envision them being used in the future.

Kicking off the discussion was Ryan Rugg, head of digital assets, TTS, Citi, who referenced the bank’s announcement on the creation and piloting of Citi Token Services for cash management and trade finance.

According to Citi, “the service uses blockchain and smart contract technologies to deliver digital asset solutions for institutional clients. Citi Token Services will integrate tokenized deposits and smart contracts into Citi’s global network, upgrading core cash management and trade finance capabilities.”

During the panel, Rugg also mentioned that by tokenising deposits, it “adds a 24/7/365 always on infrastructure. We’re currently live between the US and Singapore right now and where it gets really interesting is that we’re working with a federally regulated local network to make it not just a Citi token. We believe in multi-bank, multi-border.

“Also, with that, programmability enhances this and adds benefits to the bifurcated market. When I was at R3, we had started on public chains, we went to a private version of