CBDCs started to become visible in published papers and discussions around 2016. The Riksbank reported on its work and the Bank of Canada followed with a stream of explanatory papers covering the key design elements that need to be got right. No doubt there was much material before then but the acceleration of interest and activity has taken CBDCs from a niche to main stream media discussions.
From 12-14 September the CBDC Conference will take place in Istanbul. This is the fourth conference, one having been online, and it attracts central banks, technology companies and interested parties from around the world. It has over 60 speakers, 23 of whom are from central banks along with the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
Central bank: retail CBDCs
Dr Kingsley Obiora, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria: launching Africa’s first CBDC
Dr Opoku-Afari, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana: Governors panel
Alberto Naudon, Board Member of the Central Bank of Chile: design & policy decisions
Dr Novelette Panton, Division Chief of the Bank of Jamaica: project Jam-Dex, a live CBDC.
Bénédicte Nolens, Centre Head of the BIS - Innovation Hub Hong Kong: moderating a workshop that discusses various CBDC project implemented by the BIS
Michael Law, Hong Kong Monetary Authority: update about the e-HKD.
Yoav Soffer, Bank of Israel: the Digital Shekel Project.
Scott Hendry, Bank of Canada: a user-centric design of the CBDC
Suela Kristiansen ,Norges Bank: the Bank’s work on CBDC
Other central banks: Bank of Zambia, South African Reserve Bank, Bank of Thailand, Bank of England, Central Bank of the Bahamas, De Nederlandsche Bank, National Bank of Hungary and Sveriges Riksbank.
Central bank: wholesale CBDCs
Constantin Drott, Deutsche Bundesbank: wCBDC
Claudine Hurman, Banque de France: cross-border payments using CBDC.
Academics:
Professors from Oxford University, Loughborough University and University of Würzburg Technology providers:
Experts from leading technology providers like AWS, Bitt, Emtech, Giesecke+Devrient, Idemia, nChain, Orell Füssli Security Printing, Trustnoted, R3, Ripple and UDPN will present the latest innovations.
The agenda includes case studies from the BIS and several central banks. Presentations from the IMF and several university professors discuss the potential impact on the macro-economy and the financial system, and technology providers will share their expertise in the CBDC domain.
The programme has a mix of presentations, panel discussions and hands-on break-out sessions. The goal is to allow attendees to learn from the experts, engage in discussions and exchange ideas with other delegates, and get all their questions answered.
For those new to CBDCs, the optional CBDC Academy on the morning of the conference targets those new to CBDCs to learn the basics in a series of parallel workshops so they can maximise the benefit of the conference.
More information can be found at https://www.cbdc-conference.com/.
