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.

Innovation in contactless payment technology, the COVID-19 pandemic, increased e-commerce, and enhanced transparency, security, and convenience have transformed the retail payment markets in the last few years.

Koenig & Bauer Banknote Solutions (KBBNS) will host a dedicated event to bring the international central bank community together around the future role cash will play in society.

This year, the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA) is concentrating on cash visibility and collaboration.

The first afternoon of the second Cash Sustainability Forum (CSF), which takes place in Frankfurt from 24-26 June this year, will be a workshop dedicated to the recycling and recirculation of cash. It will build on a white paper currently being researched and prepared, and for which input is still very welcome.

The ability of private citizens to execute electronic transactions using a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), central bank money, introduces new monetary stability challenges. A paper by Harald Uhlig from the University of Chicago considers this. The paper is highly theoretical but raises the sort of questions central banks have to get right in their planning for a CBDC.

The second payment methods survey of companies in Switzerland took place in Spring 2023, with 1,750 companies taking part.

The Federal Reserve has published a paper on what happens to international payments and the role of the dollar should a US Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) be issued.

The Federal Reserve has published its 2023 findings on consumer payment behaviour. Confusingly, this is based on the 2022 survey.

A study of the use of mobile money in Bangladesh gives a new perspective on how it differs from other payment methods.

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.

A new CashEssentials paper addresses the questions ‘Is cash a public good?’ and ‘Is it a basic right?’ with the aim of clarifying the debate and advancing policy recommendations.

In a push to advance cashless transactions, four Czech banks are rolling out a novel solution that lets merchants skip traditional terminals while eliminating the need for customers to pay in cash.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has published an article in its Bulletin about cash usage. The article starts by explaining that transactional demand is hard to calculate and then goes on to use four different methods to establish a range of estimates.

This article provides summary of how payments are changing as technology changes and is adopted. Also, an update on AI ‘watermarking’.

A Bank of Canada staff paper gives useful insight into financial exclusion. It does this in the context of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDC), but the findings have broad relevance to payments generally.

Dr Franklin Noll, a payments specialist who works as a Lead at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, has posted in LinkedIn an interesting piece on financial / payment inclusion. He has expressed his own opinions, not those of the Federal Reserve Bank.

The European Union has developed plans to reduce money laundering. This includes a limit on cash payments of €10,000 (versus €3,000 as previously proposed).

A new version of the famous Monopoly board game has been created, ‘Monopoly Voice Banking’, that has replaced paper cash with a voice-activated banker.

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