Yesterday, the Financial Post
reported that the Bank of Canada has been working on a public central bank digital currency (CBDC) to replace cash. The news came to light after the release of an internal presentation given in September last year to the bank’s board of directors.
It revealed that the head of digital currency research at the time, Stephen Murchison, wrote: “We need to innovate to stay in the game,” and that CBDC would have “all the benefits [of cash and] all the convenience and security of wireless, electronic payments.” Though his presentation is over a year old, the Post reports that the research on a public-focused currency is ongoing.
Canada has been exploring digital currencies and blockchain for some time, but for institutional use. For example, blockchain
Project Jasper for Canadian securities was launched in 2016. It reached its
third phase in partnership with Accenture and R3 last year. More recently, the Bank of Canada successfully used a CBDC in a
test payment with the Singapore central bank.
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