The opportunities and challenges of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), is underway in 81 countries, with five fully launched digital versions of their currency, according to a new CBDC tracker from the Atlantic Council.
The Atlantic council’s Geoeconomics center recently unveiled a new central bank digital currency tracker database featuring an interactive toolkit.
According to its website, the Geoeconomics Centre described itself as “a nonpartisan organisation that galvanises US leadership and engagement in the world, in partnership with allies and partners, to shape solutions to global challenges.”
The CBDC tracker, which was unveiled July 22, currently monitors 81 countries and currency unions. These 81 countries represent over 90% of the global Gross Domestic Product.
There are four largest central banks (the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, The Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England) considering CBDC. Among them the United States is furthest behind in developing a state-backed digital currency.
The original version of the CBDC tracker was launched in April last year. This version is used by the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS). The center claims, adding that according to the new tracker:
“81 countries (representing over 90%of global GDP) are now exploring a CBDC. In our original report published one year ago, only 35 countries were considering a CBDC.”
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said that digital dollar development is a “very high priority” to combat financial crime. However, he highlights the need to “get it right” instead of rushing to launch a digital dollar. It will mainly launch to compete with China’s digital yuan.Powell currently said, “you wouldn’t need stablecoins, you wouldn’t need crypto if you had a digital U.S. currency. I think that’s one stronger argument in its favor.”
Meanwhile, “5 countries have now fully launched a digital currency,” The Geoeconomics center added. They are the Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Lucia, and Grenada.
The center added that “14 other countries, including major economies like Sweden and South Korea, are now in the pilot stage with their CBDCs and preparing a possible full launch.”
The Director of the Geoeconomics Center and former senior advisor at the International Monetary Fund, Josh Lipsky, said,
“Before COVID, central bank digital currencies were largely a theoretical exercise. But with the end to distribute unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus around the world, combined with the rise of cryptocurrencies, central banks have quickly realised they cannot let the evolution of money pass them by.”
