Tomas Holub, a board member of the Czech National Bank, criticized central bank-backed digital currencies. In an interview with the 4H Production, Tomas talked about the role of CBDCs had in providing direct liquidity to clients’ accounts was technically an “attractive concept. However, Holub stopped short of praising CBDCs, which he dubbed “helicopter money,” because he hasn’t seen a solution that answers outstanding questions surrounding the nature of CBDCs. Currently, central banks around the world are experimenting and researching CBDCs.
The board member raised several questions about CBDCs practicality.
The board member of the Czech National Bank raised several questions about the implementation and the nature of CBDCs in the interview. Those questions included whether a CBDC would be anonymous or not, whether anti-money laundering (AML) standards would be applied to the anonymous variant, and if the currencies would be interest-bearing. Holub said that he is yet to see any CBDC project that provided full, detailed answers to these questions. He also criticized the Czech law, which he said lacked the power to give the central bank the authority to issue citizens credit in the form of digital currency due to European legislation standards.
Central banks across countries continue to experiment with CBDCs.
Central banks across countries are actively researching and experimenting with CBDCs. Several European countries have revealed that their progress with the CBDC. China is set to become the world’s first major nation to issue its national digital currency. The national digital currency dubbed as Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) is currently testing it in many cities across the country. The world’s most populated country is on its way to issue a digital version of yuan that some experts claim could threaten the global dominance of the US dollar. The People’s Bank of China has been working on its national digital currency for the last 5 to 6 six years and is now very close to issuing it to the general public.
