COVID-19 will pave the way for CBDCs

[d5000]

I think, OP, that your hypothesis is correct. While I personally still saw no media attention to that possible tendency, it's certainly right that the research on CBDCs could get a boost after the COVID-19 crisis.

In the case of COVID-19, as others like hatshepsut93 have written, an infection by viruses pegged to surfaces (like cash) is highly unlikely. A recent study in the (strongly affected) German Heinsberg region confirms that not even in houses of families whose members were infected by SARS-CoV2 it was possible to cultivate virus from surfaces like door knobs or toilet seats.

However, the act of payment when using cash or a "traditional" credit/debit card involves more physical contact and more proximity than a "contactless" payment (e.g. by NFC technology) and thus it greatly can reduce the risk of infection in that moment. Also, there are other potentially deadly viruses where a transmission on surfaces is possible. So I think the COVID-19 crisis will probably influence the discussion about CBDCs. And this can also be a chance for cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin.

[exstasie]

The Banque de France is quietly testing a CBDC on behalf of the European Central Bank. They published this "call for applications" last week: https://www.banque-france.fr/sites/default/files/media/2020/03/27/200327-call-for-applications.pdf

In view  of  the  opportunities  opened up  by  technological  progress  and  in  an  effort  to  avoid excessive  fragmentation  in  settlement  procedures,  the  Banque  de  France  is taking  steps  to review and adjust the conditions under which it provides financial intermediaries with central bank money. With this in mind, the Banque de France is launching a programme of experiments to test the integration of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in innovative procedures for the exchange and settlement of tokenised financial assets between financial intermediaries.

These experiments will act as a contribution by the Banque de France to a broader discussion within the Eurosystem, which will make any decision on whether to set up a CBDC. The tests are not intended to be continued on a long-term basis or applied on a wide scale by the Banque de France itself.

Not sure if this was catalyzed by COVID-19 per se since they were vaguely talking about digital currencies a few months ago already, but it may have accelerated things.

[Kasabus]

I won't say it isn't time yet but I would believe it is an eye opener for the world. Who would have thought that cash would be considered as a contact agent in recent time ? I'm sure that many countries will loosen up from their strict rules on cryptocurrency.

I guess it is. Those countries that are treating crypto as illegal might change their stance now.
But CBDCs will take time to have really good progress in actual implementation.
But yes, this situation may pave the way for them to proceed.

Yes. This pandemic virus has become an eye opener that fiat currency is no longer good enough in this current time since it causes the fast transmission of virus. Government should think on  switching into digital currencies for the safety of all the people but i guess this will not happen in just a blink of an eye. It will take time and will pass more debates and public discussions before it will be legally implemented.

[FlightyPouch]

I have the same thought and conviction that central banks will develop their own digital coins, this impact of this pandemic is just too massive and humbling. It's even more expensive to manage fiat than managing digital coins. The fiat has a whole lot of bottle necks to deal with.

Developed countries that can support this will be able to start their project and I think it will take years before we will be able to do this. I just hope I will be able to catch this change while I am alive. Though it will not be expensive to the one managing it, how about the users of it, the people that will be using the digital currency or coins. Not all of the people here are well-versed when it comes to technology.

[Snappycoco]

Cryptocurrency is the future. There's no doubt about it. Once the government sees the advantage of cryptocurrency, they will adopt and surely more will follow. I am very sure one day or so it will surely be regulated in whole world.

[criza]

Even though the chances are right for CBCD, I think it is still not the time for it because, the whole world is more busy fighting the virus and is focus more on the welfare of their soverign so they could give proper support for their people. CBCD still needs time to be realized because, not all are ready and capable for this new move towards the future, every country still needs to study more about the platform, so they will know how to implement it properly, and we have more important lives at stake here.

[DooMAD]

Exactly. I don't see any other way but for governments to start issuing digital currencies for everyone's benefit.

"Everyone" has to mean everyone, though.  I have elderly relatives who can't even cope with on-demand TV.  They need a little paper magazine to tell them what time the TV shows they like are on.  It's all they've ever known.  We got them an on-demand box where you just select the show you want from the menu.  They returned it back to the shop for a refund.  Couldn't use it.

Tell me how they're going to adapt to digital money if they can't even work a modern television remote control. 

[LeGaulois]

Cryptocurrency is the future. There's no doubt about it. Once the government sees the advantage of cryptocurrency, they will adopt and surely more will follow. I am very sure one day or so it will surely be regulated in whole world.

The topic is about CBDCs, not cryptocurrencies, there are differences between both

Exactly. I don't see any other way but for governments to start issuing digital currencies for everyone's benefit.

"Everyone" has to mean everyone, though.  I have elderly relatives who can't even cope with on-demand TV.  They need a little paper magazine to tell them what time the TV shows they like are on.  It's all they've ever known.  We got them an on-demand box where you just select the show you want from the menu.  They returned it back to the shop for a refund.  Couldn't use it.

Tell me how they're going to adapt to digital money if they can't even work a modern television remote control.  

Via the debit card.

There isn't really a lot to 'adapt', if you have $1 in your pocket or your bank account, NFC card, it's still $1.

When they invented the debit card they didn't care about people who won't know how to use it (senior people, etc) and they still don't.
20-30 years later it's one of the most used payment methods. You don't need to know how to write or read to use NFC card

[DooMAD]

"Everyone" has to mean everyone, though.  I have elderly relatives who can't even cope with on-demand TV.  They need a little paper magazine to tell them what time the TV shows they like are on.  It's all they've ever known.  We got them an on-demand box where you just select the show you want from the menu.  They returned it back to the shop for a refund.  Couldn't use it.

Tell me how they're going to adapt to digital money if they can't even work a modern television remote control.  

Via the debit card.

There isn't really a lot to 'adapt', if you have $1 in your pocket or your bank account, NFC card, it's still $1.

If they barely leave the house and aren't able to do online banking, what use is a debit card to them?  As an example, the neighbour picks up their shopping for them and drops it off to the house, the elderly relative then hands them cash for it (or will give them the cash once lockdown is lifted, anyway).  

Is the neighbour going to buy a card reader?  
Do we give the neighbour my elderly relative's card and trust they don't choose to steal money from the account?
Are we going to try and teach someone in their 80s how to use a computer for the first time in their life to order shopping online?

They need cash because they can't comprehend anything else.

[Cratoon]

Personally I use practical reasoning to build my prognoses.

So far it seems that the crypto in general is becoming more practical as it doesn't require you going in the banks and allows contact free transactions.
I believe that the main cryptos (especially BTC) will significantly grow in price in the next 0.5 year

[Abiky]

Yes. This pandemic virus has become an eye opener that fiat currency is no longer good enough in this current time since it causes the fast transmission of virus. Government should think on  switching into digital currencies for the safety of all the people but i guess this will not happen in just a blink of an eye. It will take time and will pass more debates and public discussions before it will be legally implemented.

The benefits of CBDCs far outweigh the risks of physical cash. This will indeed take some time to implement, since it's not easy enough to devise a Blockchain network from scratch. Governments can either go this route or simply use an existent blockchain ledger for launching digital currencies of their own. It looks likely that they'll choose the first option so they're able to manipulate the ledger at will. The development and introduction of CBDCs will depend on how long COVID-19 lasts within the mainstream world. The longer it takes, the faster we'll be able to see CBDCs being adopted by governments worldwide. I know that old people will find it hard to adopt this new form of money, but it's the way of the future. Either they'll adapt to the new banking system or be left behind.

With countries like the US, France, and even China exploring ways on how to adopt a CBDC, the new economy should begin real soon. Before you know it, physical cash will be a thing of the past making digital payments the new norm of world commerce. Even physical credit/debit cards will cease from existence, as everything will be done via a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Both crypto and CBDCs will live alongside each other for many years to come. Just my thoughts

[desertfox470]

In times where social distancing is a must, the way we make payments changes in its entirety. Physical cash will cease from existence, as they serve as "carriers" or "vehicles" of the deadly coronavirus "COVID-19". Governments will notice that printing more money will not be worth their time, leading them towards the creation of their very own digital currency. That is if the pandemic continues extends long enough in order to have a negative impact on the world's economy.

Considering that everything has been moving to the "online world" lately, I believe that the coronavirus pandemic will pave the way for CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) quicker than we've expected. After all, it'll be much safer to conduct transactions online (and eco-friendly too) than doing so in the physical realm. Crypto will rise like never before because of this, leading towards the accelerated development of CBDCs.

While many countries like the US and Russia are skeptical about crypto/Blockchain technology, they might change their stance once they see it's no longer worth printing physical cash. China has already been working on a CBDC solution of its own, so it's only a matter of time before it starts rolling it to the public.

What are your thoughts? Will this be the era of CBDCs? Or is it still too early to tell?

I don't know if it will exactly be a CBDC. I think many companies utilize debit and credit cards right now for online and in-person transactions. This also helps limit the spread if people are not touching a lot of things while doing these transactions. I don't see a world-leading country putting out a CBDC because many citizens wouldn't know how to use it.

[exstasie]

"Everyone" has to mean everyone, though.  I have elderly relatives who can't even cope with on-demand TV.  They need a little paper magazine to tell them what time the TV shows they like are on.  It's all they've ever known.  We got them an on-demand box where you just select the show you want from the menu.  They returned it back to the shop for a refund.  Couldn't use it.

Tell me how they're going to adapt to digital money if they can't even work a modern television remote control. 

Most of these CBDC schemes aren't aimed at removing cash from circulation, at least early on. I think there is a general understanding that banning cash would be discriminatory towards the elderly.

Unfortunately, that argument won't hold up forever. I'm sure the plan is to eventually go cashless.

[DooMAD]

"Everyone" has to mean everyone, though.  I have elderly relatives who can't even cope with on-demand TV.  They need a little paper magazine to tell them what time the TV shows they like are on.  It's all they've ever known.  We got them an on-demand box where you just select the show you want from the menu.  They returned it back to the shop for a refund.  Couldn't use it.

Tell me how they're going to adapt to digital money if they can't even work a modern television remote control. 

Most of these CBDC schemes aren't aimed at removing cash from circulation, at least early on. I think there is a general understanding that banning cash would be discriminatory towards the elderly.

Unfortunately, that argument won't hold up forever. I'm sure the plan is to eventually go cashless.

I figured as much.  Definitely going to try to drag it out as long as possible, though.  I use cash over card wherever I can, but I'm already starting to see cashless bars at music venues.  It has already begun.   

[verita1]

Of course, I think that Crypto will have more use due to the quarantine caused by Coronavirus, and in the future, the world rulers will give it an important position. I have read that China plans to create a CBDC but not speculative like BTCitcoin, nor stable coins.
If any country, either China or another, successfully launches its CBDC. There will be other governments who want to follow the model or improve it.

[Latviand]

Right. Central banks may see highly infectious disease and epidemics as a justification towards their creation of digital currencies. Then again, it needs a lot more than that, and the public really needs more convincing for them to accept this novel idea of replacing physical cash with online ones. Perhaps after the older population is gone, they will have to push even harder for this to become a reality, but for the time being I don't think there is any solid reason to hasten the formation of CBDCs.

As this virus is still constantly spreading around the world, it is more likely that digital currency will become more popular and noticeable by the society. Some people tend to use credit card or e-wallet to pay for their balance or transactions so there is a possibility that mass adoption of bitcoin will strengthen the probability of CBDCs to become more popular. But in some context, there's some features of digital money that is not enough to replace physical money in our society. Some importance of fiat currency is that it is the currency that the people used for so many years and digital currency nowadays can easily hacked because of our technology that is constantly advancing from time to time. For the mean time, we just need to focus on how this cryptocurrency will develop mass adoption during this kind of pandemic.

[Febo]

COVID-19 will pave the way for CBDCs

While many countries like the US and Russia are skeptical about crypto/Blockchain technology, they might change their stance once they see it's no longer worth printing physical cash. China has already been working on a CBDC solution of its own, so it's only a matter of time before it starts rolling it to the public.

What are your thoughts? Will this be the era of CBDCs? Or is it still too early to tell?

China actually postponed it because of covid-19. No matter what happened and will happen almost every country will have their own cryptocurrency. Mostly countries that are not allowed ( Euro countries) will have none.

[Gyfts]

CBD's will get more popular as states begin to lift restrictions on them but I'm not sure what COVID-19 has to do with it. If anything, coronavirus will slow down it's legalization with the fact that everyone doesn't care about drug legalization at the moment.

[el kaka22]

I guess the times are passing and I am very very sorry to say this because it will sound horrible but so will the elderly people as well. People who are on their 60's right now lived at a time when computers have been a very important part of our world during their 20's and 30's so they did get a bit better at it than their elders, anyone who are younger (under 60 year old) have been around literally during the technological boom.

So, when you talk about some new invention like bitcoin to get at the hands of everyone, you do not have to think about just 20 year old people, if needed I am sure everyone up to 50 years old could adapt quite very easily and the rest will either adapt with time or eventually no longer be with us. Sure, it will take couple decades at least but it could potentially happen.

[Abiky]

Most of these CBDC schemes aren't aimed at removing cash from circulation, at least early on. I think there is a general understanding that banning cash would be discriminatory towards the elderly.

Unfortunately, that argument won't hold up forever. I'm sure the plan is to eventually go cashless.

As long as there are old people using physical cash, the idea of a CBDC will take longer than usual to become adopted by everyone in the mainstream world. Governments would need to slowly introduce the new payment system to the world, while phasing out physical cash from existence. A great level of education is needed for people to understand how to perform digital payments more thoroughly. While credit/debit cards have existed for a very long time, they aren't as efficient as a digital currency is. With a CBDC, governments can cut costs and increase efficiency with the power of Blockchain technology. Central banks are slowly beginning to realize that it is no longer worth printing physical cash for circulation. After all, physical cash is harmful to the environment in every way. Not to mention, they serve as carriers of germs and bacteria increasing the risk of contagion from the COVID-19 pandemic. Focusing entirely on digital payments seems to be the way of the future.

I believe that COVID-19 will accelerate the development of national digital currencies as we speak. Remember, Bitcoin was created in a situation where there was a global financial crisis in 2008. We're now getting closer each day to those events, so I'd expect governments to start rolling out their own CBDCs real soon. Just my thoughts