We Need Instant Payments AND Central Bank Digital Currencies

With the interest in central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) growing and the debate about the requirements of, goals for and constraints to the architecture of such digital currencies continuing, Mastercard
MA
has announced a new CBDC Partner Program to to foster collaboration with key players in the space.

Slow Start

With CBDCs springing up around the globe, there are some early lessons to be learned, and one of them is that they are slow starters. The digital Yuan, the biggest CBDC scheme in place, has transacted some $250 billion, which means the digital currency has seen significant growth year-on-year but it remains realively small scale. The volume will soon reach a cumulative billion transactions made from approximately 120 million wallets with an average transaction amount of roughly $260.