Cash & Payment News™ (CPN) was first published in July 2018 as the successor to Payment News Quarterly. While Currency News™ focuses on the product that is ‘cash’, CPN has concentrated on the use of cash once issued.
The changing nature of payments is an integral part of that story, and so tracking payments around the world has been the other half of the magazine. Somewhere in all that, of course, has been the rise of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).
However, it is a time for change. You may have noticed that this edition bears the name, ‘Cash, Payment & CBDC News™’. While we have written about CBDCs for a long time, it is time to recognise formally that they are part of the agenda of the magazine.
While CBDCs were very much with us in 2018, since then activity has accelerated to the extent that nearly all central banks are doing at least some work on them. There is a sense that the number of active CBDCs will increase and that it is a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’. At the same time opposition to the idea of CBDCs has gone from nothing to being increasingly present.
In parallel, while the price of the likes of Bitcoin has been a roller coaster with a steady stream of scandals, crypto currencies and stablecoins are becoming regulated, understood and accepted. While they may be ‘defying gravity’, it appears that they are here to stay, adding colour, complexity and confusion to a busy financial situation. We will touch on these rather than making them a mainstay of the magazine.
Our aim remains to provide our readership with an overview of cash, payments and CBDCs so that you have the context and fundamental information to do your work.
