G+D’s Journey to CBDCs

Tanja Heßdörfer was interviewed at the CBDC conference in August for this article. Tanja is Head of Sales and Business Development, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)s, at Giesecke+Devrient (G+D).

She must be doing something right since the Central Bank of Eswatini is the latest central bank to announce they are working with G+D on a CBDC project.

Identifying a market opportunity

G+D formed a team in 2017 to think about the future in the context of the rise of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins and regulated digital payments. The team is made up of people from every part of G+D – banknotes, connectivity, cyber security, mobile payment technology etc.

Technologists and market facing staff were put together with a focus on serving central banks. Tanja joined G+D and this team in 2018.