The Bank of Canada is looking to hire an economist who has a deep knowledge of financial technology and digital currencies, potentially signaling the latest in a series of steps towards a Canadian Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). According to the bank’s official page, the economist’s duties will be to monitor and analyze the latest developments related to electronic funds and payments, implement research projects, prepare analytical notes, and work on the “potential development of a CBDC.” The Bank has defined a set of requirements that the applicant must meet, among which are an in-depth knowledge of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and …

Editor’s note Blockchain technology has attracted regulatory attention since its inception. The security of the Bitcoin network despite the value of BTC in play has consistently proved the resilience of blockchain technology in maintaining records across a vast range of parties. However, many countries have determined that Bitcoin doesn’t behave as a currency at all, or at least not a replacement for their own. The nations behind the world’s most-used fiat currencies have in many cases pointed to Bitcoin’s volatility as a critical flaw. They have decided that the rise of stablecoins, especially over the past two years, poses a …

A number of financial institutions in Russia have expressed interest in testing the country’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC. According to an Oct. 16 report by local news agency Izvestia, at least five Russian banks are interested in taking part in Russia’s non-public digital ruble pilots in the first half of 2021. The list of banks includes state-backed Promsvyazbank, the Credit Bank of Moscow, commercial bank Zenit, mortgage bank Dom.RF, and Crimea’s Russian National Commercial Bank. As reported, the latter wants to be actively involved in the first pilots in order to provide Crimea with the “most innovative banking …

New Zealand-based financial services company Power Finance plans to launch what it’s calling a “world-first” digital version of the New Zealand dollar. Set to launch early next year, the digital currency will employ distributed ledger technology. The “Power Dollar” is not government-backed, however, and is more akin to a stablecoin such as Tether than a true digital dollar. It is being set up privately and will be backed one-for-one by New Zealand dollars held by Inland Revenue through its tax pooling system. The company is led by former PwC banking and capital markets partner Dave Corbett, and is backed by …

According to an Oct. 15 report from The Canadian Press, Timothy Lane, deputy governor of the Bank of Canada, or BoC, said central banks should have their own digital currency ready should regulators block Facebook’s Libra token. He also noted that such an asset is important as a possible solution for the economic realities of COVID-19. Lane spoke at an online panel discussion hosted by the Central Bank Payments Conference, stating that the Bank of Canada has been developing a central bank digital currency, or CBDC, at "a good pace." He said the bank would need to hold consultations regarding …

There appears to be a disagreement within the top echelons of Japan’s government on the threat that China’s CBDC poses to the nation. Just last week, Kenji Okamura, vice-finance minister for Japan’s international affairs voiced concerns over its neighbor’s efforts in the space, stating “first-mover advantage is something we should be afraid of." Today’s statement from Kazushige Kamiyama, who leads the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) CBDC efforts, appears to contradict this previous sentiment. He said that on the contrary, the first-mover advantage may easily turn into a disadvantage, and that no single digital currency will dominate: “I don’t think a …

The Central Bank of The Bahamas, or CBOB, is planning to make its central bank digital currency project interoperable on an international level. Bobby Chen, the CBOB’s assistant manager of electronic solutions, claimed that The Bahamas’ digital currency — dubbed the “Sand Dollar” — should eventually be interoperable with other global currencies, local news agency the Nassau Guardian reported on Oct. 15. Chen said, “At the moment, it is currently only used in a domestic setting, but eventually we are working on a solution that will make it interoperable with other global currencies.” Cleopatra Davis, head of banking at the …

American fast-food giants like Starbucks and McDonald’s are reportedly not participating in China’s ongoing digital yuan tests. According to an Oct. 14 report by news agency Sina Finance, China’s central bank digital currency, or CBDC, is still being piloted on a “small scale,” primarily involving the retail and catering industry. As reported, a number of foreign merchants, which were rumored to be part of China’s CBDC tests, are actually not using the digital yuan for payment so far. Xiong’an, one of the major Chinese cities piloting the digital yuan, reportedly had 19 companies involved in its CBDC pilot, including Starbucks, …

Russian financial authorities have confirmed the government’s purported plans to issue the central bank digital currency, or CBDC. On Oct. 13, the Bank of Russia released a consultation paper on the development of the digital Russian ruble. In the statement, the central bank said that the digital ruble can become an “additional form of money alongside cash and non-cash.” The establishment of Russia’s CBDC project will require the creation of additional payment infrastructure, the bank said. The bank also said that the digital ruble will have “all the necessary properties to perform the functions of money.” The project’s timing will …

The European Central Bank launched a public consultation on a potential digital euro on Oct. 12. Developments on the central bank digital currency front in the Eurozone have picked up pace amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and the central bank has framed its introduction to the public consultation with the claim that the issuance of a CBDC could help "cushion the impact of extreme events — such as natural disasters or pandemics — when traditional payment services may no longer function." Earlier this month, a Bloomberg report claimed that the ECB applied to trademark the term "digital euro" on Sept. 22, …

Japan needs to adapt its laws to issue a central bank digital currency, according to a local financial official. Kozo Yamamoto, head of the Liberal Democratic Party’s council on financial affairs and a former official at the Ministry of Finance, believes that Japan must revise a law stipulating the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) mandate and responsibilities regarding the development of a CBDC. According to an Oct. 12 Reuters report, Yamamoto said that potential amendments to the BoJ law would be a good opportunity to consider other changes like adding job creation to the central bank’s mandate. The official also stated …

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), in collaboration with a group of seven central banks, published its first joint report into central bank digital currencies on Oct. 9, focusing on the foundational principles and core features of CBDCs. Alongside the report, the Bank of Japan, one of the members of the group, released a document outlining its own specific approach to CBDCs from a Japan-centric perspective. According to the BoJ report, it will begin the first of several testing phases for its own CBDC sometime in 2021. This will include the development of a test environment for the currency and …