Digital-only financial inclusion (DoFI) can increase convenience for financially included people, and lead to cost savings for providers of financial services. On the back of this, today digital payments are promoted by governments and digital payment companies alike as a solution to financial inclusion for all. A recently published paper examines the dangers of DoFI.

The European Central Bank has started to make the case for a digital euro. The central bank's Programme Director Digital Euro recently noted that a digital euro, while complementing cash, would strengthen Europe’s strategic sovereignty by reducing dependence on non-European payment providers and offer another form of trusted and secure transactions for people in Europe.

A technical article by Manuel Muñoz and Oscar Soons, unusually, considers the role of CBDCs as a store of value instrument for consumers.

The ECB is looking to sign five agreements worth about €1.1 billion for a four year pilot of a Digital Euro starting early 2025.

Mastercard’s Asia-Pacific lead for blockchain and digital assets has spoken about CBDCs in the region. He argues that consumers are so comfortable with existing payment options that a CBDC is not justified.

A paper published by the Munich Personal RePEc Archive has carried out secondary research on Africa’s adoption of CBDCs.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has used decentralised finance (DeFi) technology concepts on a public blockchain to trade and settle hypothetical euro, Swiss franc and Singapore dollar wholesale CBDCs across borders between simulated financial institutions.

The Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) has published a paper questioning whether the design of the digital euro could already be undermining its chances of success.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has been researching CBDCs. Its latest work found legal, regulatory, technical and operation issues that suggest an early launch of a CBDC is unlikely.

Laos has trialled a digital currency, the Digital Lao Kip, working with Soramitsu, a Japanese fintech company.