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Digital innovation and central bank digital currency adoption (CBDC) have been on the rise despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. What has driven CBDC forward?

Cambodia’s blockchain-powered payment system goes live

Keynote speech by Mr Yves Mersch, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank, at the ESCB Legal Conference, Frankfurt am Main, 2 November 2020.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), which went on record in September stating that there is no need for Australia to develop a digital AUD, announced that it is working with other banks and partners to develop a wholesale central bank digital currency (CBDC) based on distributed ledger technology (DLT). The partnership includes Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and blockchain tech firm Perpetual and Consensys Software.

Former IMF Chief and President of the European Central Bank solicited input on possible CBDC

An executive working at Russia’s Central Bank has stated that a Central Bank Digital Currency could serve as a response to problems being created by cryptocurrencies.

The governor of the Bank of Canada Tiff Macklem has advocated for a “globally coordinated” approach with respect to CBDC development.

The Mate40 series will reportedly enable dual offline transactions and allow users to control anonymity.

The National Bank of Cambodia has announced an official launch of a national digital currency that would operate via smartphone apps.

“We need to prevent dollarization — this is one of the major designing points of the Chinese DCEP,” said Zhou Xiaochuan.

Canada's central bank recognizes that CBDCs are a necessarily international issue.

According to the Bangkok Post, Cambodia officially launched its central bank digital currency (CBDC) called the ‘Bakong’ on October 28, and the blockchain-based platform underlying the digital version of the riel, which is Cambodia’s national currency. The platform was designed by Japanese company Soramitsu on the Hyperledger Iroha blockchain and is available to the Cambodian citizens in the form of a mobile app.

Blockchain firm ConsenSys is becoming increasingly active in the central bank digital currency space.

China is poised to become the world’s first cashless society should roll out its Digital Yuan DCEP before it hosts the 2022 Winter Olympics according to the SCMP

But don’t call it a CBDC, says central bank reps.