Central banks are exploring ways to make cross-border wholesale payments faster and cheaper using new technologies such as tokenisation. A recent Financial Times article lays out the options.

The Central Bank of Brazil wants to deliver a CBDC, the Drex, in 2026.

Mastercard’s Chief Product Officer says stablecoins offer promising attributes like high speed and low costs but lack essential attributes like a seamless user experience and wide distribution to consumers.

Speaking in Kyiv at the National Bank of Ukraine, the Governor of the Bank of England (BoE) spoke about the role of central banks in the context of changing market structures and events. His speech throws an interesting light on recent developments in the US and Europe in this area.

Finally, the US Senate has passed legislation about stablecoins after a number of years trying.

As yet unsubstantiated rumours report that China is linking its digital renminbi cross- border payment system to the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and six Middle East jurisdictions.

The Bank of England (BOE) is in the design phase of work on a digital pound (DP). As part of this phase, it is conducting experiments and proofs of concept in collaboration with private- sector innovators and a range of stakeholders.

Currency Research (CR) is hosting the 2025 Digital Currency Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, 28-29 May 2025. Nearly 200 delegates from central banks, financial institutions, fintechs, and technology providers from across the globe will come together to discuss the rapidly evolving digital currency landscape. Now in its 4th edition, the Digital Currency Conference was previously held in Mexico City (2022), Washington, DC (2023), and London (2024).

Mark Carney is Canada’s new prime minister, chosen by the Liberal Party after the resignation of Justin Trudeau.

An interesting Finextra article examines whether CBDCs are being planned without public support, the ‘solution in search of a problem’ conundrum. There are though, two distinct issues: the policy rationale (the fundamental problems a CBDC aims to address) and the use cases (why individuals might actually adopt it).