Bank of Canada reportedly shelves idea for digital loonie (CBDC)
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported that the Bank of Canada has shifted its focus away from the idea of introducing a retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). This was based on an email sent by the Bank to the public broadcaster, which outlined its “significant research towards understanding the implications of a retail central bank digital currency” and that going forward its focus will be on preparing for the ongoing evolution of payments both in Canada and around the world, through policy research and analysis. Other than a steady stream of research papers on the topic, the last time the Bank released anything official on its retail CBDC project was in November 2023. That was a report on public consultations that said that the “likelihood of a digital loonie being needed is still uncertain, and the ultimate decision whether to go ahead with one depends on the Parliament”. [Read more at the CBDC]
BTW I don’t know how much we should read into this, but Walt Engert, Senior Policy Advisor and Research Consultant at the Bank of Canada, posted without comment the above-referenced CBC article…
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