Continuing on the theme of disintermediation, which is almost always discussed when the opportunities and risks of CBDCs are discussed, a paper by two academics from King’s Business School and the University of Liverpool and by a central banker from the Bundesbank explores its complexity, modelling different outcomes.

Both the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and the European Central Bank (ECB) are working on wholesale CBDC infrastructure.

The latest Bank for International Settlements report shows research into wholesale CBDC overtaking that of retail CBDCs.

The Qatar Central Bank (QCB) is to enter a developmental phase for a CBDC for payment settlement with local and international banks.

Sarah Breeden, Deputy Governor for Financial Stability at the Bank of England, has spoken about a discussion paper to be issued in summer 2024 on tokenised money. It will include feedback on the paper in its work on stablecoin regulation and a possible retail CBDC.

The Swiss National Bank, with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Swiss innovation hub, is running project Helvetia III, the world’s first issuance of a wholesale CBDC on a regulated third party platform to settle commercial transactions with tokenised assets.

Sweden’s Riksbank has issued its latest CBDC phase review. This fourth phase built on a previous phase that trialled offline token-based payments to explore an offline e-Krona based on account balances.

Defining the right privacy level for a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is a critical decision when designing a CBDC. The Bank of Canada has published a Staff Working Paper that focuses on the needs of businesses and considers the options.

Franklin Noll of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has written a payment systems research briefing note on what can be learnt from the experience of retail CBDCs (rCBDC) in the Caribbean.

The Dutch National Bank (DNB) has published a working paper detailing research on a transition from an economy without a CBDC to one with it.