France’s central bank governor forecasts CBDC launch in the next three to five years

In the next three years a “strong” national digital currency will emerge worldwide. The forecast was given by France’s central bank governor François Villeroy de Galhau, The Block reports.

That is how the head of the monetary authorities responded to a question on the prospects for using CBDCs for everyday transactions.

“We have conducted several experiments that brought us closer to this. They are not yet generalized, but we can implement this in the next three years. With wholesale CBDC, there are fewer questions,” the official said.

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva backed this stance. She said there would be a “broad presence” of CBDCs in the next five years.

Panelists in Davos mentioned digital nairas, digital yuan and the Sand Dollar of the Bahamas.

Georgieva also touched on the TerraUSD collapse.

“When someone promises you 20% profits from something not backed by any assets, what would you call it? For us, it’s a pyramid.”, she stressed.

The IMF Managing Director expressed sympathy for those who lost money in the Terra project. She urged a better understanding of this “new investment world,” where not all assets deserve to be called stablecoins.

With proper regulation, cryptocurrencies can offer faster service, lower costs and wider reach. But only if we separate apples from oranges and bananas, she added.

G7 finance ministers urged faster crypto regulation after the TerraUSD crash.

Earlier, Fabio Panetta, a member of the ECB’s Executive Board, said the digital euro could be issued by 2026.

Subscribe to ForkLog news on Telegram: ForkLog Feed — the full news stream, ForkLog — the most important news, infographics and opinions.