Mastercard's Raj Dhamodharan predicts that central banks will shift their focus away from retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and instead prioritize wholesale CBDCs for financial institutions. Dhamodharan believes that central banks have realized that the private sector is successfully innovating on its own, making general public CBDCs less of a priority. The shift towards wholesale CBDCs is expected to improve settlement capabilities and accelerate cross-border capital flows. A survey by the Bank for International Settlements also revealed that the majority of central banks are moving away from retail CBDCs, with only 12% planning to issue them in the medium term. The survey suggests that there could be nine wholesale CBDCs publicly circulating by the end of the decade.



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