September 13, 2021
Benoît Cœuré, Head of the BIS Innovation Hub, spoke at the Eurofi Financial Forum on Friday, September 10, 2021. His speech called upon central banks to “roll up our sleeves and accelerate our work on the nitty-gritty of CBDC design.”
Cœuré noted that the BIS Innovation Hub is currently assisting central banks with six CBDC-related “proofs of concept and prototypes” and that he expects that number to increase.
In considering CBDC design solutions, Cœuré highlighted that three questions must be addressed.
- Why would consumers want a CBDC and for what purposes?
- How can CBDC’s meet public policy objectives?
- What technological design choices should be adopted?
As to the last question, Cœuré highlighted that “[c]omplex trade-offs will be addressed by central banks including how to balance scale, speed and open access with security; and how to balance offline functionality with complexity and security.”
Benoît Cœuré’s entire speech can be found here.
CBDC Design Resources
The following sources provide additional background information on CBDC design, CBDC’s generally, and the development of BIS thought on the topic of CBDC’s.
BIS Annual Economic Report | 23 June 2021
III. CBDCs: an opportunity for the monetary system
Central bank digital currencies
BIS CPMI, Markets Committee Papers | No 174 | 12 March 2018