Coming Soon? Developments In Central Bank Digital Currency

The prospect of central banks issuing central bank digital currency ("CBDC") has garnered further attention during the COVID-19 outbreak, which has underlined some of the disadvantages and risks of transacting with physical cash. CBDC could be used to further facilitate transactions without the need to exchange a physical item, and could also potentially be used to facilitate an immediate and direct transmission of funds from the government to individuals in times of emergency, be it for fiscal stimulus, small business funding needs or payment of unemployment benefits. Although developments on this front may not be as immediate as needed to add value in the immediate term in the current outbreak, they could lay the groundwork for future use cases.