CBDC Round Up

Mastercard Questions Logic of CBDCs

Mastercard’s Asia-Pacific lead for blockchain and digital assets has spoken about CBDCs in the region. He argues that consumers are so comfortable with existing payment options that a CBDC is not justified. Adoption will, therefore, be the key challenge for CBDCs.

He does suggest one caveat. In countries where the domestic payment system is not robust, a CBDC may well make sense.

For a CBDC to work, people will need to be able to spend it anywhere they want, as is the case with cash today.

Digital Tenge Debit Card Launched in Kazakhstan

The National Bank of Kazakhstan started its pilot CBDC project in June 2021. In 2022, it tested its digital tenge in the real world environment, and 2023 and 2024 are being spent exploring use cases for the digital tenge beyond just being used for retail payments. The first public issuance of a digital tenge is planned for late 2025.