CBDCs: The future of money and payment

We view digital currencies, such as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), as a natural evolution of money and payments. Digital currencies and programmable payments already exist, but the underlying CBDC infrastructure is what makes these digital currencies so transformative and will likely change how and when value is transferred over the next 15 years. There are currently 114 central banks exploring CBDCs, up from 35 in May 2020, representing 58% of countries globally and over 95% of global GDP. However, central banks and governments can't build new financial systems based on distributed ledger technology alone and have indicated that they will leverage the private sector to drive digital asset innovation. Our view is that CBDCs have the potential to revolutionize global financial systems.

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