Tag: Cryptoassets

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260420)

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19th ERPB Technical Session on the Digital Euro (ECB)

The European Central Bank (ECB) posted the presentations discussed at the 19th Euro Retail Payments Board (ERPB) technical session on the digital euro held virtually on April 9. Main topics included a refresher on the fundamentals of the offline digital euro solution and its main components, and an overview of the 12-month pilot slated to start in H2 2027 to be conducted with a limited number of payment service providers, merchants and Eurosystem staff. [ECB]

Canada’s Stablecoin Framework (Government of Canada)

The Government of Canada published a federal framework in which non‑bank issuers of fiat‑backed stablecoins must register with the Bank of Canada, maintain fully backed high‑quality liquid reserves, and offer at‑par redemption in the reference currency. The framework centralizes prudential oversight at the Bank of Canada while leaving trading, payments, and anti‑money‑laundering oversight to existing securities and payments regimes, aiming to enable innovation and competition in digital payments while tightening consumer protection and financial stability safeguards. It is explicitly designed to align with European Union and United States approaches and with Financial Stability Board recommendations, positioning Canadian‑issued coins for prospective cross‑border interoperability. Key open questions concern how detailed reserve, redemption, and governance standards will be calibrated in regulation over 2026–27 and how authorities will exercise expansive national‑security and public‑interest powers to deny or revoke market access. [Government of Canada]

Changes Made for KfW’s Third Blockchain Bond (KfW)

KfW announces that its third blockchain-based crypto security will migrate both registrar and distributed ledger infrastructure mid‑term to stress‑test Germany’s Electronic Securities Act framework under real market conditions. The bond will shift registrar functions from Cashlink to DekaBank and move from the Polygon blockchain to SWIAT/Regulated Layer One, while also switching wholesale payment processing from the Deutsche Bundesbank’s trigger solution at issuance to the Eurosystem’s forthcoming Pontes platform for coupons and redemption. This staged migration aims to generate evidence for scalable, standardized digital capital-market infrastructure in Europe, but leaves open whether secondary-market liquidity and operational risks will prove manageable at scale. [KfW]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260417)

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Assessing Whether Stablecoin Velocity Translates into Economic Impact VISA)

VISA’s Ezechiel Copic argues that raw stablecoin velocity is a misleading proxy for “economic relevance” because it mostly reflects wholesale‑style financial activity rather than retail spending, so it must be benchmarked against Fedwire‑like turnover rather than M1. It explains that traditional M1 velocity measures how often money is used for purchases of goods and services, whereas total stablecoin velocity—calculated as on‑chain transaction volume divided by circulating supply—captures predominantly trading, settlement, and funding flows. When filtered to transactions of 250 dollars or less as a rough stand‑in for retail payments, stablecoin “retail” velocity is far below U.S. M1 velocity, implying minimal use in everyday commerce. But when compared to a financial‑system benchmark based on Fedwire transaction value relative to reserve balances, stablecoin velocity is still much lower in scale, indicating that while stablecoins show growing importance in financial markets, they remain modest relative to established wholesale infrastructures. Overall, the piece concludes that interpreting stablecoin data requires distinguishing retail from financial‑system use and recognizing that current stablecoin impact is concentrated in the latter. [VISA]

Is the Digital Euro a Solution in Search of a Problem? (Banque de France)

Second Deputy Governor of the Banque de France Agnès Bénassy-Quéré argues that the digital euro responds to Europe’s strategic dependence on Visa and Mastercard and rising card fees, not an abstract techno-fix. Bank cards dominate non-cash payments, yet many euro-area countries lack national schemes and rely entirely on US networks, giving them leverage over European users and pricing. Instant transfers exist but are under-used in retail due to weak commercial front-ends. Bénassy-Quéré argues that the digital euro, rolled out euro-area wide as legal tender, can break network effects, underpin a sovereign infrastructure, and complement private solutions like Wero and EuropA within unified wallets, improving resilience and autonomy. [Banque de France]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260416)

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Factors that Promote Adoption and Use of a CBDC Wallet in Peru (IDEAS)

Banco Central de Reserva del Perú (BCRP) economists examined the determinants of adoption and usage of Peru’s retail central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, implemented through Viettel’s BiPay digital wallet beginning in October 2024, focusing on eight regions with low financial inclusion. Based on individual-level survey data, active CBDC usage was positively associated with awareness of the BCRP’s role in the pilot, wallet satisfaction, knowledge of functionalities, and prior digital wallet use, while self-employment was negatively associated, plausibly due to the pilot’s closed-loop, non-interoperable design. Targeted advertising significantly increased merchant adoption, active user counts, and bill payment volumes, with merchant network expansion identified as a key transmission channel. The authors conclude that retail CBDC scaling requires attention to both sides of the payment market — user-facing communication and financial incentives on the demand side, merchant onboarding on the supply side — with interoperability remaining a persistent structural barrier to broader adoption. [IDEAS]

South Korean Government to Test Tokenized Deposits on Disbursements (MOEF)

South Korea’s Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF) will run a regulatory sandbox pilot in Sejong City to use distributed ledger technology (DLT) based tokenized bank deposits for day‑to‑day government operational spending, testing preset time, amount, and category controls on expenses to improve oversight and reduce misuse, with legal and regulatory changes and nationwide rollout targeted from Q4 2026 as part of a broader plan to digitize around a quarter of treasury disbursements by 2030, building on an earlier tokenized‑deposit subsidy pilot for EV charging infrastructure. https://cointelegraph.com/news/south-korea-pilot-tokenized-deposits-government-spending [MOEF]

Tether Launches tether.wallet Self-Custodial Digital Wallet (Tether)

Tether has launched tether.wallet, a self‑custodial digital wallet intended to extend its stablecoin‑based payment infrastructure directly to end users in over 160 countries. The product aggregates access to Tether’s digital dollars (USD₮, USA₮), gold (XAU₮), and Bitcoin across multiple networks, abstracts away gas‑token management, and enables transfers via simple human‑readable identifiers, reducing frictions that have limited previous wallet adoption. This move potentially deepens dollarization dynamics in high‑inflation and underbanked jurisdictions while bypassing bank‑intermediated channels. [Tether]

Central Banks of UAE and Philippines Agree to Link Instant Payment Systems (CBUAE)

The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (CBUAE) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to support broader cooperation on financial infrastructure and payments connectivity. This includes working to integrate their instant payment platforms to enable seamless cross-border payment transactions. The MoU also provides for collaboration on central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiatives, including sharing expertise on the development of CBDC platforms for individuals and institutions. [CBUAE]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260414)

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Banks Can Process Stablecoins Like Cheques (LinkedIn)

Tony McLaughlin (Ubyx) and Mike Ringer (ReStabilize) argue that regulated financial institutions should be allowed to process stablecoins as collection agents under existing banking law, analogously to cheques. They propose that banks and fintechs receive customer stablecoins, present them for redemption, and credit fiat balances, without being reclassified as crypto-asset dealers. This functional approach would make hosted stablecoin wallets commercially viable within banks and enable reusable identity and compliance credentials for self-custody wallets, expanding the effective regulatory perimeter while preserving non-custodial usage. It could shift stablecoin activity from opaque channels into supervised institutions and position the United Kingdom’s financial infrastructure for future sterling stablecoins and tokenized deposits. The key unresolved question is how legislators and supervisors will define the legal boundary between simple collection activity and broader crypto intermediation. [LinkedIn]

Building Gulf Stablecoins and CBDCs Infrastructures (Edgar, Dunn & Company)

Edgar, Dunn & Company published a survey of the development of stablecoins and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) across the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states. It argues that strategic motivations — reducing dependence on dollar-denominated Western payment infrastructure, modernizing domestic financial systems, and reasserting monetary sovereignty — are driving a coordinated, regulation-first approach to digital currency development. The UAE and Bahrain are identified as the most advanced jurisdictions, with Saudi Arabia positioned as a rising participant focused primarily on wholesale CBDC applications via Project mBridge. Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman remain at earlier stages. The report characterizes the regional model as a two-tier architecture in which state authorities define the regulatory perimeter while private-sector institutions handle distribution and adoption. Several case studies — including the Digital Dirham, AE Coin, mBridge, and ADIB Smart Sukuk — are presented to illustrate current implementation status. [Edgar, Dunn & Company]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260411)

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Making Stablecoins Stable (IMF)

The IMF published a paper that develops a theoretical framework to analyze the tension between stablecoin stability and issuer incentives. The central finding is that unregulated stablecoin issuers hold excessive risky assets to maximize profits, thereby elevating run risk while failing to internalize the welfare consequences for households. A regulator acting in the broad public interest can improve upon this outcome by mandating high-quality liquid asset backing, ideally central bank reserves, but strict liquidity requirements alone reduce issuer profitability and suppress stablecoin supply below socially optimal levels. The authors argue that achieving both stability and adequate issuance requires two complementary policy instruments: a safe backing asset requirement and a supplementary revenue source for issuers, such as remuneration on reserves or regulated data monetization. The paper draws supporting parallels from China’s e-money experience and situates its findings relative to emerging regulatory frameworks including the U.S. GENIUS Act and the EU’s MiCA regulation. [IMF]

Stablecoin Issuance Market: Four Business Models Reshaping the Market (Tiger Research)

Tiger Research published a report arguing that late‑entry stablecoin issuers can survive only by abandoning the dominant reserve‑interest model and specializing in distinct market niches. The authors show that Tether uses scale to monetize reserves while gradually repairing transparency and building a diversified real‑world asset (RWA) and investment portfolio, turning regulatory normalization into a way to defend its monetary base. StraitsX instead treats stablecoins as payments infrastructure, monetizing fee‑based transaction velocity under a Monetary Authority of Singapore license that converts compliance into a regional moat. M0 repositions issuance as shared infrastructure, using network effects across issuers and builders to become a neutral standard rather than a competing coin. KRWQ treats regulatory gaps and offshore non‑deliverable forward demand as an entry point, using offshore liquidity as an option on future domestic legitimacy, leaving open whether such sequencing can withstand eventual onshore regulatory choices. [Tiger Research]

What Are Stablecoins Used for Today? Estimating the Distribution of Stablecoins (Kansas City Fed)

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (Kansas City Fed) published an article in which Franklin Noll estimates that stablecoins are used predominantly for crypto‑finance trading, with payments accounting for less than 1 percent of supply. He finds roughly half of outstanding stablecoins sit in exchanges, decentralized finance, and related infrastructure, with another large share used for high‑value transfers and a material portion idle in rarely used wallets. This usage pattern implies that stablecoins currently function more as market plumbing and speculative liquidity than as a broad retail or commercial payments instrument, and that reliance on bridges and exchanges highlights interoperability and concentration risks in the ecosystem. [Kansas City Fed]

Self-Custodial Wallets in a Regulated World (Walletconnect and Ubyx)

WalletConnect and Ubyx published a paper arguing that self-custodial wallets can operate within existing anti–money laundering, sanctions, and tax frameworks if regulators adopt technology-neutral, outcomes-based rules and focus obligations on intermediaries at the “edge.” The authors document concrete mechanisms—such as FATF “travel rule” data capture within wallet flows, cryptographic “sign-In with X” ownership proofs, programmable token-level controls, and blockchain analytics—that allow virtual asset service providers to meet customer due diligence, travel rule, and reporting obligations without banning or custodianizing self-custody. This matters because exclusionary rules would push activity offshore, create a two-tier system, and undermine both financial inclusion and supervisory visibility, whereas regulated interoperability preserves open finance benefits while strengthening compliance. The paper highlights unresolved questions around the precise regulatory status of new wallet architectures (trusted execution environments, multi-party computation, bank-deployed wallets) and the scope and consistency of edge-enforcement obligations across jurisdictions. [Walletconnect and Ubyx]

The Central Bank of Bolivia (BCB) to Explore Wholesale CBDC in 2026 (BCB)

[November 6, 2025] Banco Central de Bolivia (BCB) issued a press release outlining a phased roadmap to explore a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) dubbed the Boliviano Digital through 2026. The plan sequences stakeholder consultations, surveys of potential participants, further technical and regulatory evaluation, and prototype testing in controlled environments to minimize operational and technological risk while building institutional capacity. For policy and market structure, the initiative positions CBDC as an infrastructure upgrade for interbank payments, cost reduction, and innovation. [BCB]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260404)

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Worldpay 2026 Global Payments Report (Worldpay)

Worldpay published the 2026 edition of its Global Payments Report in which it argues that global consumer payments are rapidly shifting toward digital wallets and app‑based rails, with cards adapting and crypto evolving rather than disrupting. The report documents rising wallet dominance in e‑commerce and at point of sale, regional variation in account‑to‑account systems, and the continued but declining direct share of cards as usage migrates into wallets. These developments sharpen questions about governance of national fast‑payment infrastructures, merchant routing and fee regulation, cross‑border interoperability, and the competitive position of bank‑issued cards versus platform wallets and “superapps.” They also highlight how buy-now-pay-later and card‑backed installments blur prudential and consumer‑protection boundaries, and how stablecoin‑based payment rails may need bespoke oversight alongside traditional systems. [Worldpay]

An Efficient Frontier Analysis of Stablecoin Reserve Management (VISA)

VISA published an article in which Ezechiel Copic uses an efficient frontier framework to show how new U.S. and EU stablecoin rules compress reserve returns and reorient issuer economics toward liquidity and resilience. The article models pre‑regulation reserve strategies using Tether’s historical mix to illustrate a wide opportunity set, then re‑estimates frontiers under the U.S. GENIUS Act and the EU’s Markets in Crypto‑Assets Regulation. Under GENIUS, a narrow set of high‑quality liquid assets leaves only a thin band of feasible risk‑return combinations, making reserve management resemble liquidity engineering rather than portfolio optimization. Under MiCA, lower euro‑area rates and binding bank‑deposit floors further depress and compress the frontier, especially for “significant” issuers. The analysis implies competition will shift from balance‑sheet yield to technology, distribution, and compliance, while leaving open how far reduced issuer economics may constrain market entry and long‑run innovation. [VISA]

Tokenized Finance (IMF)

The IMF’s Tobias Adrian argues that tokenization is a structural reconfiguration of financial architecture that shifts trust and risk management from institutions to programmable infrastructures. Tokenization enables atomic, real-time settlement and embedded compliance across money, banking, capital markets, and financial market infrastructures, compressing value chains but also accelerating liquidity dynamics and potential stress transmission. For emerging and developing economies, although tokenization may lower payment and market-access frictions, it heightens risks of volatile capital flows, currency substitution, and fragmented liquidity. The note emphasizes that the long-term success of tokenization depends on anchoring digital finance in public trust through clear policy frameworks and safe settlement assets, robust governance of code, legal certainty, and international coordination. Absent such anchors, tokenization risks amplifying financial instability through speed, concentration, and fragmentation, as contract-based risk management alter the nature of settlement, liquidity, and systemic risk. [IMF]

Results of the SNB 2025 Payment Methods Survey of Private Individuals (SNB)

The Swiss National Bank (SNB) reported its 2025 survey results on payment behavior among private individuals in Switzerland. The SNB finds that use of payment methods at physical points of sale is largely unchanged from 2024, with debit cards leading, followed by cash and mobile payment apps, based on diary and questionnaire responses from roughly 2,000 residents. For policy and cash-infrastructure design, satisfaction with cash access has dropped from 88% to 81%, likely reflecting the continued reduction of automated teller machines and similar access points, which may pressure authorities to reconsider minimum cash-access standards or incentives for basic cash services. At the same time, only 2% of respondents support abolishing cash, underscoring that cash still fulfills a demanded role in retail payments and resilience planning. [SNB]

And now for more backfilling, more of which is to come…

Do We Really Need the Digital Euro: A Solution to What Problem Exactly? (IEA)

[April 30, 2025] The Instituto Espanol de Analysts (IEA) published a book that included a chapter by European Parliament rapporteur Fernando Navarette, that argues that a digital euro is a mis-specified response to Europe’s payments challenges and should be downgraded to a contingency “Plan B.” He contends that the core problems—trust in money post‑crisis, overreliance on non‑EU payment schemes, and stablecoin‑driven currency substitution—are better addressed through institutional and regulatory reforms, wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC), and pan‑European instant‑payment solutions based on commercial bank money. Navarrete stresses that retail CBDC is inherently destabilizing for bank funding, raises unresolved privacy and governance risks, and risks crowding out private innovation, especially if coupled with legal tender and complex “waterfall” mechanics. He instead proposes a three‑pillar architecture: private‑led interoperable instant payments, a narrowly scoped offline digital euro, and wholesale CBDC—leaving a full retail CBDC only as a last‑resort backup if private efforts fail. [IEA]

The eNaira Journey So Far (in 2023) (CBN)

[In 2023] the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) published a book on the economics of digital currencies in which there was a review of how the eNaira central bank digital currency (CBDC) was designed, launched, and managed. It argues that weak demand reflects structural and institutional frictions rather than purely technological failure. The review documents a phased rollout focused on financial inclusion, payment efficiency, and monetary control, but shows that limited interoperability, burdensome onboarding, and unclear value propositions constrained uptake. It emphasizes how institutional choices around wallet tiers, distribution architecture, and bank–fintech roles reshaped market incentives, often reinforcing banks’ dominance rather than fostering broader innovation. It highlights the need to recalibrate design toward open interfaces, clearer legal and regulatory frameworks, and better alignment between central bank objectives and private‑sector business models. [CBN]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260330)

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Tokenised Deposits, WCBDC and the Central Bank’s Liquidity Management (Norges Bank)

Norges Bank published a paper that analyzes how tokenized bank deposits and wholesale central bank digital currency (WCBDC) interact with central bank liquidity management under different reserve regimes and settlement designs. They model four configurations combining scarce versus ample reserves with settlement either in traditional reserves via the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system or in WCBDC on a ledger, showing that liquidity frictions arise mainly when reserves are scarce and tokenized payments can alter banks’ reserve or WCBDC positions close to RTGS cut-off (see table below). This matters because late-in-the-day tokenized flows can force abrupt recourse to standing facilities, complicate overnight redistribution, and impair short-term rate control and monetary policy implementation, particularly in corridor or quota systems. Policy responses include deferred settlement for tokenized deposits settled in reserves and time windows or design tweaks for WCBDC activity. [Norges Bank]

Are Stablecoins and Bank Deposits Substitutes? (SSRN)

Rashad Ahmed (Anderson Institute for Finance and Economics) and Iñaki Aldasoro (BIS) posted a paper that analyzes U.S. weekly data from 2019–2025 to test whether deposit rates and reserve‑backed stablecoin holdings are substitutes. They find that higher demand deposit rates significantly slow stablecoin market capitalization growth, exploiting a nonlinear deposit‑rate pass‑through “kink” above a 3% federal funds rate, yielding effects about three times larger. This suggests bank funding conditions and monetary policy transmission now extend into stablecoin markets, with stronger substitution for USDC than USDT, aligning with USDC’s tighter links to U.S. users, and no comparable effect for bitcoin. The findings suggest that deposit‑rate regulation, the design of stablecoin regimes, and the stance of monetary policy can reallocate liquidity between banks and USD stablecoins, although identification relies on a single high‑rate episode and aggregate data that leave user‑level motives and heterogeneity across institutions unresolved. [SSRN]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260328)

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Sorry for the long radio silence, but I was traveling this week (Switzerland for private meetings and Frankfurt to speak at Frankfurt School’s Crypto Assets Conference and the Digital Euro Association’s Annual Conference (both excellent annual conferences that you should mark your next year’s calendar for). On top of that I picked up a stomach bug (probably food poisoning along the way). Anyways I’m back in the saddle now and trying to catch up and make sure I get the monthly out on time (see below).

Bank of Uganda Looking for Consultants for CBDC Feasibility Study (BOU)

The Bank of Uganda (BOU) is inviting qualified consultants or consulting firms to submit expressions of interest to conduct a comprehensive feasibility study on issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Uganda, covering technical infrastructure, legal and regulatory aspects, economic and social impacts, operational viability, and a detailed cost-benefit analysis using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The selected firm will assess national digital and payments infrastructure, propose and apply a robust methodology, and deliver specified reports demonstrating understanding, relevant experience, and a workplan. Participation is open under Bank of Uganda procurement rules, with detailed eligibility, experience, and team composition criteria (multi-disciplinary CBDC, payments, economic, legal, cybersecurity, and change-management experts) and a minimum technical score of 70 points for shortlisting. The deadline for submissions is on April 16, 2026. [BOU]

Norges Bank’s Exploration of Central Bank Digital Currency (Norges Bank)

Norges Bank published four reports from its CBDC exploratory work, which last year concluded that introducing a CBDC is currently not warranted. The need for such a currency may, however, change in the future. The four reports published today describe the exploration work and the assessments underpinning the conclusion. Norges Bank will continue to explore tokenization and different forms of CBDC in order to introduce a CBDC should it be necessary The Bank will explore the possibilities and consequences of tokenization through activities such as experimental technology testing, also in collaboration with other payment system participants. One of the papers documents sandbox tests of a two-tier, blockchain-based retail CBDC that central bank exclusively mints and redeems, while banks and other payment service providers manage all customer relationships and data. Tests show that role-based smart contracts can technically enforce this division of responsibilities and give the central bank only aggregate, real-time circulation data, but they also highlight structural privacy risks from linkable pseudonymous addresses and operational rigidity from immutable smart contracts. [Norges Bank]

Tether Appoints KPMG to Complete First Full Audit (Tether)

Tether has appointed KPMG, one of the Big Four accounting firms, to perform a proper audit of its USDT stablecoin. Additionally, according to the Financial Times, Tether has also enlisted PwC, another of the Big four, to help prepare its internal systems for this auditing process. This initiative coincides with Tether’s plans to register USDT under the U.S. GENIUS Act, signaling a significant step in its expansion efforts within the U.S. market. [Tether]

Western Union has Big Plans for Stablecoins (American Banker)

Western Union is making a strategic pivot toward stablecoins as part of the 175-year-old company’s efforts to transform into a digital-first organization. The company’s own stablecoin — the U.S. Dollar Payment Token (USDPT), issued on the Solana blockchain and managed by U.S. Bank — will convert “negative float” (capital costs from pre-funding partners) into interest-bearing revenue. Beyond revenue generation, USDPT gives Western Union programmable compliance controls across its operations in 200 countries and territories, allowing transaction terms to be customized at the partner level. The stablecoin is also expected to help customers in inflation-prone economies hold dollar-denominated assets. [American Banker]

GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 (GSMA)

The GSMA published its annual mobile money report showing that mobile money has entered a new scale and maturity phase, processing over 2.1 trillion dollars annually through 2.3 billion registered accounts in 2025. The report documents rapid growth in active usage, merchant payments, interoperable bank–wallet transfers, and agent networks that digitize cash at volume. Mobile money now underpins basic account ownership in many low‑ and middle‑income countries, shifts payments from cash to digital channels, and increasingly delivers adjacent services such as nano‑credit, savings, and insurance, with most providers profitable. It also raises design questions around interoperability, cross‑border data rules, taxation of transactions, consumer protection, fraud controls, and persistent gender gaps in account use. [GSMA]

And some backfilling:

Final Report of the Consultation on CBDC for Uganda (BOU)

[June 2025] The Bank of Uganda (BOU) published the final report on its central bank digital currency (CBDC) consultation. It argues that a CBDC merits further, phased exploration as a tool for modernizing payments, inclusion, and regional integration. The survey of 151 largely domestic, policy‑adjacent stakeholders found high reported trust in a CBDC, strong expectations of reduced cash‑handling costs and improved payment efficiency, and majority support for a retail, potentially programmable instrument that coexists with current systems. For policy and institutional design, the report frames CBDC as building on Uganda’s extensive mobile money and real-time gross settlement (RTGS) infrastructure, potentially enhancing transparency, cross‑border trade in the East African Community, and monetary policy implementation, while emphasizing preconditions around legal frameworks, cybersecurity, and stakeholder engagement. [BOU]

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.

Kiffmeister’s #Fintech Daily Digest (20260321)

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The first two papers below were authored by my two friends, Joachim Samuelsson and Ulrich Bindseil, who will also be speaking at this Thursday’s Digital Euro Conference (see below) in Frankfurt. Also, Joachim very kindly helped me to summarize both articles, which I greatly appreciated as I’ve been very tied up in other matters these past few weeks.

Offline Payments at Scale as Digital Money (Crunchfish)

Crunchfish published an executive white paper that reframes offline payments from a resilience add-on to ledger-based payments platforms to core payments infrastructure. In a fully digital economy, the absence of offline capability becomes a systemic vulnerability, but the architecture matters. The paper provides an analytical framework for evaluating offline models as a lens for institutional alignment. It distinguishes between immediate offline (which shifts value and risk to devices), deferred offline (preserves ledger money but introduces credit and reconciliation risk) and governed offline (reservation-based in which funds remain reserved at source, enabling offline execution with deterministic settlement). The governed offline model aligns with card pre-authorization and smart contract settlement. In the case of central bank digital currency (CBDC) it maintains central bank control offline, preserves singleness of digital money and avoids fragmentation. [Crunchfish]

Public Discourse on Retail Payments and the Case of CBDC (Ulrich Bindseil)

Ulrich Bindseil posted a white paper that analyzes retail payments as a network industry shaped by strong incentives to influence public opinion and regulation. Due to network effects, high fixed costs, and path dependence, multiple architectures can deliver similar outcomes while redistributing value across stakeholders. The paper maps how banks, card schemes, Bigtechs, merchants, consumers, crypto actors, and public authorities promote strategic narratives, creating a noisy and biased policy debate. It evaluates central bank digital currency (CBDC) as a central policy choice, alongside alternatives such as regulation or public instant-payment systems. One of the paper’s key insights is that retail payment outcomes are not determined purely by efficiency, but by strategic communication, political economy, and institutional design under uncertainty. In addition, effective policy requires independent analysis, transparency, and preserving a balance between public and private money. [SSRN]

Stablecoins and the Future of Payments: Evidence from Financial Markets (IMF)

The IMF published a working paper that argues that recent U.S. stablecoin legislation is interpreted by markets as a major pro‑competitive shock to the payments industry. Using high‑frequency stock‑price data around key votes on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, they estimate that passage reduced incumbent U.S. payment firms’ aggregate market capitalization by about 18% (roughly $300 billion) once anticipation is accounted for, with larger losses for cross‑border specialists and smaller or no losses for firms protected by strong network effects or already offering crypto services. The authors infer that investors expect regulated, fully backed “payment stablecoins” to materially intensify competition—especially in cross‑border payments—while leaving open how far network incumbency and early crypto engagement will mitigate disruption over time. [IMF]

Upcoming Speaking Engagements:

The Crypto Assets Conference (Frankfurt, March 25) will focus on the growing importance of digital assets for capital markets and the competitiveness of the European economy. I will be speaking on the uncertain future of CBDC projects. [Register here and get 15% off the regular ticket price.]

The Digital Euro Conference 2026 (Frankfurt, March 26) will explore the future of money with a focus on CBDCs, stablecoins, and commercial bank tokens. This hybrid event offers the perfect platform to understand the future of digital money! [Register here and get 20% off the regular ticket price by using the Kiffmeister20 code!]

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.