LONDON: A group of central banks sketched out a potential operating manual for digital cash on Thursday as they aim to strike a balance between keeping up with cryptocurrencies and concerns that the new technology could upend commercial lenders.
Worried that the explosion of bitcoin and its ilk could weaken their control of money, policymakers from Beijing to Washington are exploring central bank digital currencies, known as CBDCs.
And while a widely-used digital dollar or euro may still be years away, work by central banks is gathering pace as consumers increasingly ditch coins and notes in favour of digital payments on debit or credit cards and mobile phones.
The seven central banks - including those in the United States, Britain and the ECB in the euro zone, but not China - said publicly-used "retail" CBDC must harness both public and private players to mesh with existing payment systems.
The tech should be useable with existing domestic payments systems, with strategies for adoption tailored to on-the-ground economic conditions, said the central banks, working alongside the Bank for International Settlements.
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