- Central bank digital currencies have been receiving a lot of attention lately as more than 110 countries around the world are at some stage in the exploration or testing of digital fiat, but the full scale release of CBDCs for institutional and public use in most countries remains years away.
They are also focusing on the concept of embedded finance, which would enable companies such as ‘buy now, pay later’ providers, supply chain financing platforms, or even exchanges to no longer need a client's bank account in order to operate. The program allows Brazilian parents to pay for their students attending school in Canada, offering instant settlement while accessing FX rates that are up to 90% cheaper than they would be as cross-border payments.
The standards group is working with companies like Stablecorp to develop common standards that ensure stablecoins are accepted as a form of money and not considered securities. He added that there are still a lot of questions about how these types of banks and systems would work and what tech stack they would use, such as blockchain versus Hyperledger versus a standard closed-loop network.
McDougall said he sees three outcomes moving forward. “The best case scenario is a wholesale move towards stablecoins,” he said. “It forces all banks and everybody to get blockchain infrastructure. And once the infrastructure is there and there is a push towards doing it, the leap from there to a fully autonomous, self-sovereign world where you can do everything yourself is not that far.”