Nations around the world are conducting research into the designof central bank digital currency (CBDC), a new, digital form of money that would be issued by central banks alongside cash and central bank reserves. Retail CBDCwould be used by individuals and businesses as form of money suitable for routine commerce. An important motivating factor in the development of retailCBDC is the decline of the popularity of central bank money for retail purchases and the increasing use of digital money created by the private sector for such purposes. The debate about how retail CBDC would be designed andimplemented has led to many proposals, which have sparked considerable debate about business models, regulatory frameworks, and the socio-technical role of money in general. Here, we present a critical analysis of the existingproposals. We examine their motivations and themes, as well as their underlying assumptions. We also offer a reflection of the opportunity that retail CBDC represents and suggest a way forward in furtherance of the public interest.
If ordinary citizens cannot own their own money, then what canthey own?
We'll also address key questions about design requirements for digital wallets, ongoing political fights around novel payment technologies and cross-border trade, and the question of what it takes for individuals and businesses to hold money outside of a bank account in the 21st century.
Speaker
Dr. Geoffrey Goodell Geoff Goodell is a research associate atUniversity College London and Deputy Executive Director of the UCL Centre forBlockchain Technologies, as well as an honorary research associate at theCentre for Technology and Global Affairs at the University of Oxford.
He is a member of the British Standards Institute and Co-Convenorof the ISO working group on Foundations of Blockchain and Distributed LedgerTechnologies. Previously, he was an entrepreneur and portfolio managerwith a decade of experience in the financial industry. After starting hiscareer as an associate at Goldman Sachs in New York, he later moved to Bostonand became Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Phase Capital, an assetmanagement firm, where he developed and managed a systematic macro strategy forinstitutional clients. He has a PhD in computer science from Harvard Universityand an undergraduate degree in mathematics from MIT. His dissertation concerneddecentralized systems and Internet governance. His recent work focuses ondigital identity, digital payment systems, and regulation.
Join us for the second in our ZIBR public talk series when we movefrom DeSci to DeFi in an insightful discussion at the crossroads of retaildigital currencies, CBDC, and monetary policy — and continue the conversationduring the networking session.
