2023 in Hindsight

In 2023 we continued to cover cash, payments and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This article provides a swift summary of the year that was.

Editorials: Our editorials ranged from making the case for cash (time to reframe it and cash as the backstop to individual freedom) to the weaknesses of digital payments, the challenges of CBDCs, and whether the cash community should think differently about them, and the opportunities for cash in the Metaverse. We wrote about the changing role of Issue Directors and just how important the role is.

Event coverage: we summarised elements from seven events in 2023:

• World Banknote Summit (February)

• Silk Road Payments Conference (March)

• Currency Conference (May)

• CBDC Conference (August)

• Future of Cash conference (September)

• ATMIA Europe and Emerging Market Cash ATM seminar (October)

• Retail Bank Transformation summit