The leaders in the development of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are the Bahamas and Cambodia. They have surpassed their Chinese counterparts, according to a report by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).<\/p>\n
The PwC experts’ Global CBDC Index reflects central banks’ progress in developing digital currencies and public interest in two use cases:<\/p>\n
The report states that CBDCs will make a significant contribution to modernising the international currency landscape alongside a reshaping of the payment and financial infrastructure.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cOrdinary citizens stand to gain more from the deployment of national digital currencies, as this will give them access to central-bank digital money for the first time,\u201d<\/em> said PwC partner Henri Arslanian.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Bahamas topped the retail CBDC ranking with a score of 92 out of 100. On 20 October 2020, the regulator of this country launched Sand Dollar<\/a>, accessible via a mobile app and a physical payment card.<\/p>\n
Cambodia was in second place with 82 points, third was China with 75 points, and fourth was Ukraine with 71 points.<\/p>\n
In the wholesale CBDC rankings, Thailand and Hong Kong shared first place with 80 points, while Singapore was in third place on 75 points.<\/p>\n
Eighty-eight per cent of projects studied by PwC analysts are based on blockchain as the underlying technology, with a higher degree of centralisation.<\/p>\n
The People\u2019s Bank of China ruled out<\/a> the introduction of fully anonymous CBDCs.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Bank for International Settlements and seven leading central banks worldwide arrived<\/a> at the same conclusion due to AML\/CFT rules.<\/p>\n
According to Raiffeisenbank’s estimates, by 2025 sovereign digital currencies and exchanges for trading such assets will appear<\/a> in circulation in 10% of states.<\/p>\n
Pwc Cbdc Global Index 1st Edition April 2021<\/a> by ForkLog<\/a> on Scribd<\/p>\n