Global adoption of CBDCs is growing, but interoperability presents challenges

Pallavi Thakur, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Swift, and Ryan Rugg from Citi shared insights at Money20/20 from their recent collaborative CBDC experiment.

Both Thakur and Rugg cited the rapid progress of the global adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). However, they underscored the pressing need for interoperability among different systems, a challenge that demands immediate attention.

“It’s like the early days of the Internet. You have all these various intranets developing,” Rugg said. “What’s going to be the connectivity between all of it?”

Adoption of CBDCs

The adoption of CBDCs is gaining momentum globally as central banks explore CBDCs to improve payment systems, ensure financial stability, and promote economic growth. CBDCs are digital versions of traditional fiat currencies controlled by central banks. Unlike cryptocurrencies, CBDCs have a stable value tied to their nation’s currency, supported by monetary policies and regulations.

Governments worldwide are considering CBDCs, with 134 countries exploring the idea and 36 countries piloting initiatives. However, digital currency presents challenges such as susceptibility to fraud, glitches, and transaction errors.

“When you talk about 36 countries, imagine 36 bilateral connections, it’s not going to scale, right? So these numbers are great but also present challenges,” Thakur said. “If I, as a consumer, want to send payment from my digital account to somebody in India, which needs to be in a digital rupee, it should be absolutely seamless,” Thakur said. 

Market utility 

When they first emerged, CBDCs were largely siloed as niche experiments or limited to early-stage pilot programs. Today, they have become far more global and common, with widespread adoption among banks and retailers, reflecting a significant shift in the financial landscape towards digital currencies. 

Citing this adoption, Rugg emphasized the need for utility and unity among all financial institutions working with CBDCs and the necessity for seamless transactions across different digital currencies.

“It has to be a market utility where there’s not one entity that controls it,” Rugg said.