Fast Payment Ecosystem Models and Performance in Brazil, the United States, and China (IMF)
The IMF published a working paper by Yibin Mu that qualitatively compares Brazilian, Chinese and U.S. fast payment ecosystems across governance, architecture, pricing, and access. The analysis finds that ecosystem performance depends more on institutional alignment than public versus private ownership. Brazil’s Pix achieves rapid adoption and formal interoperability through a unified public rail, mandatory participation for large institutions, and zero-cost retail transfers, though this concentrates operational and risk management responsibilities. The United States combines multiple coexisting rails—central bank-owned FedNow and commercial bank-owned Real-Time Payments—with fragmented front-end platforms, resulting in slower, use-case-specific diffusion alongside mature card and automated clearing house systems. China pairs central bank-owned clearing infrastructure with dominant private wallets, achieving population-scale usability via low-cost quick-response acceptance while creating market concentration and complex supervisory challenges. [IMF]
Goldman, Citi Among Banks in $270 Million Stablecoin Backing (Bloomberg)
A coalition of 21 financial institutions, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, and UBS, has reportedly committed approximately $270 million to fund Project Faro, a U.S.-incorporated joint stablecoin venture. Designed to cover five years of operational expenses, the initiative aims to issue fully reserve-backed digital money on public blockchains in the first half of 2027, with subsequent plans to introduce euro-denominated tokens. It is one of several collaborative stablecoin efforts among banks and other financial institutions seeking a presence in a market dominated by non-bank issuers. For example, Open Standard, backed by Coinbase, Mastercard, Shopify, Stripe, and Visa, has launched its OUSD USD stablecoin, while 37 European banks concurrently formed Qivalis to issue a euro-denominated coin. [Bloomberg]
BTW if you want to see a complete database of my DFC-related posts going back years, including many that didn’t make the Daily Digest cut, click here.
FYI I produce a monthly digest of digital fiat currency (DFC) developments exclusively for the official sector (e.g., central banks, ministries of finance and international financial institution (e.g., the BIS, IMF, OECD, World Bank)) plus academics and firms that are active in the DFC space (commercial banks, technology providers, consultants, etc.). (DFCs include central bank digital currency (CBDC), stablecoins and tokenized deposits.) It goes out via email on the first business day of every month, and if you’re interested in being on the mailing list, please email me at john@kiffmeister.com.
